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How-To

PDF to JPG: Convert PDF Pages to JPEG Images for Free

· 7 min read

Quick summary: To convert a PDF to JPG for free, open it in Preview on Mac, go to File → Export, and choose JPEG from the Format dropdown. On Windows, take a screenshot of the page or use a free online converter. On iPhone, take a screenshot of each page in the Files app and save from Photos. For all pages at once, Ghostscript handles batch conversion in one command.

Converting a PDF to JPG is useful when you need to embed a page in a presentation, share a document preview on social media, or use a page as a thumbnail in a web app. Unlike PNG, JPEG uses lossy compression — smaller file size, no transparency. For transparent backgrounds or lossless quality, see how to convert a PDF to PNG for free. After extracting content from a PDF, you can also upload the original to our free AI PDF reader to summarize or search it.

How to convert a PDF to JPG on Mac

Method 1: Preview (built-in, free)

Preview exports any PDF page as JPEG in seconds:

  1. Open the PDF in Preview.
  2. Navigate to the page you want to export.
  3. Go to File → Export.
  4. In the Format dropdown, choose JPEG.
  5. Drag the Quality slider — 80–90% is a good balance of quality and file size.
  6. Set the Resolution (DPI). For screen use, 150 DPI is fine; for print, use 300 DPI.
  7. Click Save.

To export all pages as separate JPEGs:

  1. In the sidebar, press Cmd + A to select all page thumbnails.
  2. File → Export Selected Pages as PDF — wait, this exports as PDF. Instead:
  3. Use File → Export as PDF to keep as PDF, or use Automator/Ghostscript for batch JPG export (see below).

Preview exports one page at a time to JPEG. For multi-page batch export, use Automator or Ghostscript.

Method 2: Automator (batch export, free)

To export all pages as separate JPEGs automatically:

  1. Open Automator (search Spotlight: Cmd + Space → type Automator).
  2. Create a new Workflow.
  3. Add action: Render PDF Pages as Images.
  4. Set format: JPEG, resolution: 150 or 300 DPI.
  5. Add action: Move Finder Items to choose a destination folder.
  6. Run the workflow with your PDF as input.

Each page is saved as a numbered JPEG file.

How to convert a PDF to JPG on Windows

Method 1: Screenshot method (quick, free)

For one or two pages:

  1. Open the PDF in Edge or Chrome.
  2. Navigate to the page.
  3. Press Windows + Shift + S to open the Snipping Tool.
  4. Select the page area.
  5. The screenshot is copied to the clipboard — paste into Paint, Photos, or any image editor.
  6. Save as JPEG from that app.

Method 2: Ghostscript (batch, free)

Ghostscript converts all pages to JPEG in one command:

gs -sDEVICE=jpeg -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER \
   -r150 \
   -sOutputFile=page-%d.jpg \
   input.pdf
  • -r150 sets 150 DPI (change to -r300 for print quality).
  • -sDEVICE=jpeg outputs JPEG files.
  • -sOutputFile=page-%d.jpg names files page-1.jpg, page-2.jpg, etc.

Download Ghostscript for Windows from ghostscript.com (free).

Method 3: Online converter (no install)

Search for “PDF to JPG free online” and use any well-reviewed tool:

  1. Upload your PDF.
  2. Choose JPEG quality (usually a slider from low to high).
  3. Download a ZIP of all pages as JPEGs, or download individual pages.

How to convert a PDF to JPG on iPhone

Method 1: Screenshot

  1. Open the PDF in the Files app.
  2. Take a screenshot (side button + volume up).
  3. Open Photos → find the screenshot → crop to remove the status bar and home bar.
  4. The cropped image saves as JPEG automatically.

Limitation: Screenshots are limited to what fits on screen. For a full-page JPG at a consistent size, use an online converter.

Method 2: Shortcuts app

  1. Open Shortcuts → create a new shortcut.
  2. Add action: Get File (select the PDF).
  3. Add action: Convert Image → set output to JPEG.
  4. Add action: Save to Photo Album.

This works for single-page PDFs. For multi-page PDFs, the Shortcut exports only the first page by default unless you add a loop.

How to convert all PDF pages to JPG at once

Ghostscript (Mac, Windows, Linux)

gs -sDEVICE=jpeg -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER -r150 \
   -sOutputFile=page-%d.jpg input.pdf

Produces page-1.jpg, page-2.jpg, etc. — one file per page.

Python + PyMuPDF (cross-platform)

import fitz  # pip install pymupdf

doc = fitz.open("input.pdf")
for i, page in enumerate(doc):
    pix = page.get_pixmap(dpi=150)
    pix.save(f"page-{i+1}.jpg")

This is the fastest method for large PDFs — processes hundreds of pages in seconds.

JPG quality and DPI guide

Use caseDPIJPEG quality
Social media thumbnail72–9680%
Web page preview96–15080–85%
Email attachment15075–80%
Print (standard)30090%
Print (high quality)60095%

JPEG quality above 90% produces minimal visible improvement but significantly larger files. For web use, 80% is almost indistinguishable from 100% at normal viewing size.

JPG vs PNG: which format to choose?

JPGPNG
TransparencyNot supportedSupported
File sizeSmallerLarger
QualityLossy (slight artifacts)Lossless
Best forPhotos, document previewsDiagrams, screenshots, transparency needed

If the PDF page has a white background (most do), JPG and PNG look nearly identical. Choose JPG for smaller files; choose PNG when transparency is needed or when text sharpness is critical.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How do I convert a multi-page PDF to one JPG?

Converting all pages into a single JPG image (pages stacked vertically) requires image stitching after export. Export all pages with Ghostscript or Python, then combine them using ImageMagick:

magick page-1.jpg page-2.jpg page-3.jpg -append combined.jpg

Or use the Python PIL/Pillow library to paste images vertically. Most use cases are better served by keeping pages as separate files.

Why is my JPG blurry after converting from PDF?

The resolution is too low. 72 DPI is the screen default but looks pixelated when zoomed or printed. Re-export at 150 DPI for screen use or 300 DPI for print. In Ghostscript, change -r72 to -r150 or -r300.

Can I convert only specific pages of a PDF to JPG?

Yes. In Ghostscript, add page range flags:

gs -sDEVICE=jpeg -r150 -dFirstPage=3 -dLastPage=5 \
   -sOutputFile=page-%d.jpg input.pdf

This exports only pages 3–5. In Preview on Mac, click the page thumbnail you want and export that single page.

Does converting to JPG reduce the file size compared to the PDF?

Usually yes, for scanned documents. A 5 MB scanned PDF might produce 200–500 KB JPEGs per page. Text-based PDFs are already small — the JPEGs may actually be larger than the original PDF in that case.

Is there a loss of quality when converting PDF to JPG?

JPEG compression is lossy — it removes some image data to reduce file size. At 80–90% quality, the loss is invisible to the human eye for most content. For documents with fine text or thin lines, use 90%+ quality or switch to PNG to avoid compression artifacts.

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