How to Convert a PDF to JPG or PNG (and Choose the Right Resolution)
Turn PDF pages into image files, and pick JPG vs. PNG and the right resolution for what you're actually using them for.
Converting a PDF page to an image sounds like one operation, but the right format and resolution depend entirely on what happens to that image next — a thumbnail for a webpage and a print-ready page need very different settings.
JPG or PNG — which one for a PDF page?
Most PDF pages are text and simple graphics, which PNG handles more efficiently and with crisper edges than JPG's compression artifacts. Choose JPG only when a page contains a photo or photo-like content where PNG's larger file size wouldn't be worth it.
Picking a resolution that matches the use case
A page destined for a webpage or a quick preview doesn't need more than roughly 100-150 DPI-equivalent resolution. A page that will be printed needs considerably more (around 300 DPI) to avoid visible pixelation on paper. Exporting everything at maximum resolution by default just produces unnecessarily large files for the majority of use cases.
One image per page, not one combined image
Converting a multi-page PDF produces one image file per page, not a single tall image — this keeps each page individually usable (attaching just page 3 to an email, for example) instead of forcing you to crop a combined image afterward.
When to convert vs. when to keep it a PDF
Convert to images when you need to insert a page into something that only accepts images (a slide, a social post, an image-only upload form). If the recipient can accept a PDF, keeping it as one is usually better — a PDF preserves selectable text and stays a single file instead of scattering into several images.
What a DPI choice actually produces
DPI turns into pixels by page size. An A4 page at 150 DPI comes out at roughly 1240x1754 pixels — plenty for screens and slides. At 300 DPI it is about 2480x3508 — print territory, and four times the pixels to store and send. US Letter is nearly the same story (1275x1650 at 150 DPI, 2550x3300 at 300). Seeing the actual numbers makes the choice concrete: unless paper is involved, the higher setting mostly buys file size.
What happens to the page background
A PDF page is rendered as it appears — a normal document page exports as an image on its own (usually white) background, not as a transparent cut-out of the text. JPG has no transparency at all, and while PNG can store it, a rendered page is a picture of a page, background included. If you need text or a diagram isolated on transparency, that is an editing job after conversion, not a conversion setting.
Getting text back is a different technology
Once a page is an image, its text is shapes, not characters. Turning it back into selectable, searchable text requires OCR (optical character recognition) — a separate process with its own errors, especially on scans, handwriting and small print. Converting PDF to image and back never restores the original text layer. Keep the source PDF whenever the words matter; treat images as the visual edition of the page.
Quick tips
- For scanned documents that are already essentially images, PNG vs JPG barely matters — use whichever produces the smaller file for that specific scan.
- If you only need a few pages, not the whole document, Split PDF first, then convert just the pages you need — smaller job, fewer files to manage.
- Keep the original PDF; once converted to images, a page can't easily be turned back into selectable, editable text.
- Export with page-numbered names (page-03.png) so a set of images stays in order wherever you share it.
- For one slide or one social post, a single page at 150 DPI is plenty — skip the full-document 300 DPI export.