How to save PDF pages as JPG or PNG images

PDFs are great for documents, but plenty of places want a picture instead. Chat apps show images inline. Slides, social posts, product listings and web pages all expect a JPG or PNG. So you need a page of your PDF as an image, and you want it to look sharp.

Two choices decide how good the result is: the resolution (DPI) and the format (JPG or PNG). This guide explains both, then shows the steps.

What DPI means for a PDF page

A PDF page has a size in inches, not in pixels. A US Letter page is 8.5 by 11 inches, whatever screen you view it on. To turn that page into an image, a converter has to decide how many pixels to use for each inch. That number is the DPI, short for dots per inch.

More dots per inch means more pixels, more detail and a bigger file. Here's what the common settings give you:

Notice that 300 DPI doesn't just double the file. It doubles both the width and the height, so the image has four times as many pixels as at 150 DPI. That's why 300 DPI files are much larger.

For most uses, 150 DPI is the sweet spot. It's sharp on screens and in slides, and the files stay a sensible size. Use 300 DPI when the image will be printed, or when people need to zoom in on small text, drawings or signatures.

JPG or PNG?

Both formats work. They suit different kinds of pages.

JPG is best for pages with photos, scans or lots of color. It uses lossy compression, which throws away detail people barely notice to keep files small. You can trade size against quality with a slider. JPG has no transparency, so every page gets a solid background.

PNG is best for pages with text, charts, logos and line art. It's lossless, so every pixel is kept exactly. Thin lines and small letters stay crisp, with no smudgy halo around them. PNG also supports transparent backgrounds. The trade-off is size: a photo-heavy page saved as PNG can be much bigger than the same page as a JPG.

A simple rule: mostly pictures, choose JPG. Mostly text or graphics, choose PNG. For a deeper comparison, including newer formats, read JPG vs PNG vs WebP vs AVIF.

How to save PDF pages as images with Pagestro

Pagestro has two tools: PDF to JPG and PDF to PNG. Both draw each page with a full PDF rendering engine running inside your browser, so fonts, vector graphics and photos come out as they look in a PDF viewer. The PDF is never uploaded.

Step 1. Open the tool and drop in your PDF. Files can be up to 100 MB and 200 pages. If the PDF has a password, you'll be asked for it, and the file is decrypted in memory only.

Step 2. Choose a resolution: 72, 150 or 300 DPI. 150 is the default.

Step 3. For JPG, set the image quality with the slider, from smaller files to best quality. For PNG, choose a white or transparent background.

Step 4. Convert and download. A one-page PDF gives you one image. Longer files download as a ZIP with one image per page. Each image is named after your file plus its page number (page-01, page-02 and so on), so they always sort in page order.

Getting a transparent background

Transparent PNGs are useful when you want to place a logo, diagram or signature from a PDF onto a colored slide or web page without a white box around it.

In PDF to PNG, choose Transparent under Background. Any part of the page where nothing is drawn stays see-through.

One catch: some PDFs paint a white or colored box behind everything as part of the page. Scanned pages and some slides exported to PDF are built this way. In those files, the "background" is really a shape, so it stays visible even with Transparent selected. If that happens, crop the image afterwards or ask for the original artwork.

JPG can't store transparency at all, so PDF to JPG always renders pages on white.

Saving just one page

Neither tool asks for a page range. There are two easy ways around that:

• Convert the whole PDF and keep only the image you need from the ZIP.
• Pull the page out first with Extract Pages, then convert the one-page PDF. You get a single image, no ZIP.

The second way is tidier for long documents. Our guide on how to split a PDF and extract pages walks through it.

Common problems and quick fixes

Using the images on a website

Page images straight from a PDF are often larger than a web page needs. Before you upload them, resize them to the width they'll be shown at and compress them. A modern format such as WebP can cut the size further. Our guide on how to compress images for your website covers the full process.

Frequently asked questions

What DPI should I use?

150 DPI for screens, slides, posts and email. 300 DPI for printing or when people need to zoom in on fine detail.

Can the image have a transparent background?

Yes, with PDF to PNG. Choose Transparent under Background. JPG has no transparency, so JPG pages are always on white.

Is there a page limit?

Files can be up to 100 MB and 200 pages.

Can I convert a password-protected PDF?

Yes, if you know the password. Enter it when asked, and the file is decrypted in memory before the pages are drawn.

Are my files uploaded?

No. The pages are drawn in your browser, so the PDF stays on your device.