PDF files are used massively for the exchange of electronic documents because they offer many advantages to the user. They maintain the format with which they were created and can be compressed to facilitate their transfer, among others. If you are looking to convert a PDF document into an image file (ie JPEG, GIF, BMP, etc.), in this article you will find several free programs that can help you with that task.
This article describes the procedure for Windows XP. However, it can be easily adapted to other operating systems, such as Windows 98, Windows 7, Windows 8 / 8.1, Windows 10, Linux, Mac OS X, etc., since the programs used are available for all these platforms.
How to convert PDF to images using GIMP
Installation of GIMP
GIMP is an excellent program of editing and retouching of images, which is free, free and in Spanish. To start with this process, download GIMP and install it on your PC.
Installing Ghostscript
In addition to GIMP, you must download Ghostscript Viewer, a free and free program that allows you to read PDF documents (in console mode but this does not matte, since you will not be the one who uses it, but GIMP).
During installation, do not modify the default directory.
Add system variables
To continue with the process, go to Start > Control panel > Performance and maintenance > Show the basic information related to your PC or system . Click on the Advanced tab , then on Environment variables .
Click on the New button at the bottom. In Variable Name , type GS_PROG . Under Variable Value , type C: \ Program Files \ gs \ gs8.14 \ bin \ gswin32.exe (depending on the Ghostscript installation folder). Click OK .
Click on the New buttonon the bottom. In Variable Name , type GS_LIB . In Value of the variable , type C: \ Program Files \ gs \ gs8.14 \ lib (according to the Ghostscript installation folder). Click OK.
Click on OK in the open windows and if necessary restart the PC.
How to use GIMP
Run GIMP and open your PDF file. To do this, go to File > Open , select the file and click OK .
Configure the options you want and click on Import . Click on File and select Save a copy . Enter the name of the file and its extension or click on Select the file type to select the extension (JPG, BMP, GIF, etc.). Then choose the folder where it will be saved. Click on Save and if you wish, modify the options (compression, etc.) in the window that appears and click on Save again .
How a PDF file is converted into an image with PDF Creator
Download PDF Creator and install it on your PC. Then, open the PDF file with Adobe Reader or another PDF reader. Click on Print and select the PDF Creator printer.
In the PDF Creator window, open the drop-down menu under Profile and select an image file (PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, PCX) instead of PDF. Then, click Save :
To modify PDF Creator settings, click Edit . In the Convert section you can modify the graphic parameters of each file (resolution, number of colors, etc.).
How to pass a PDF to images with ImageMagick
ImageMagick is a program that allows the conversion and manipulation of images from the command line.
For example, to convert a PDF file into an image in TIFF format, type the following command:
convert myfile.pdf image% 04d.tiff
How to convert PDF into image with Adobe Reader
Open your document with Adobe Reader, then click Edit > Take a snapshot .
While holding down the right mouse button, define the capture area. When you release that button, the selected area will be copied to the clipboard.
Next, paste the capture into an image editing software (for example, Paint or GIMP) and save the image in the format you prefer.
How to move from PDF to image file with XnView
XnView allows the conversion of PDF documents into images through one of its functions.
Online tools to convert PDF into graphic files
There is a range of online tools that convert your PDF files without you having to download any software . These tools include PDF to Image and PDF Converter .
Unlike the tools that require installation, these options available on the Internet are characterized by providing only the basic functions, but they have the advantage of being quick and easy to use.
How to turn PDF into JPG
Have you been asked to extrapolate some pages from a PDF document and save them as JPG files? Do not despair, you will not have to “photograph” the computer screen and save each page individually! Fortunately for you there are online services and easy to use software that allow you to perform this operation completely automatically. All you have to do is take the original document, give it “in feed” to one of these solutions and specify the resolution and / or the quality level of the images to be obtained: everything will be ready in just a few minutes.
How do you say? Too good to be true? I assure you that there is no “trick”. Choose one of the online services or one of the applications that I am going to advise you and put into practice the instructions on how to transform PDF to JPG that you find below, you will immediately change your mind.
Then? Would you like to try? Yes? Perfect! So I would say that I do not waste any more precious time, ban the chatter and immediately start to get busy. I am sure that in the end you will be able to tell you very happy and satisfied with what you have learned and that even in case of need you will be ready to advise all your friends eager to receive some similar advice. What do you think we bet?
Online services to transform PDF into JPG
CloudConvert
If you do not even have a second to lose and want to avoid installing new programs on your computer, do not think twice and contact CloudConvert . It is a Web service that allows you to convert various types of files, including PDF and JPEG images, directly from the browser. It has no limits on the total weight of the files, does not require registration and is completely free. The service also respects the privacy of the users as the uploaded files will be automatically deleted from CloudConvert servers within 24 hours. What more could you want?
To use it, connected to its home page through the link that I have just provided you, click on the Select files button and select the PDF document you want to convert to JPG. Then click on the Start conversion button and wait a few seconds for the file to be first uploaded online and then processed by CloudConvert.
When the process is finished, the download button will appear automatically next to the name of the file you converted: click on it and start downloading a ZIP package containing all the pages of the document in JPG format. If you have not made any changes to the default settings of the Web browser you are using, you will find the file in the Downloads folder on your computer.
SmallPDF
Another online service that I highly recommend to try and that allows you to convert PDF to JPG in a simple way is SmallPDF . This is a totally free online resource that allows you to edit and convert PDF files in various ways. It does not present stringent upload limits (even if in its free version it allows only two files to be processed per hour) and does not require registration in order to work. In addition, it protects the privacy of users by automatically deleting, in a few hours, all the files that are uploaded on its servers.
To take advantage of the service, connected to its main page copper the link that I indicated a moment ago, drag the document to be converted in the browser window or select the items on the computer you want to go to click on Choose File and choose if convert entire pages, that is, if you convert all the pages of the PDF into images, or if you extract single images and get only the JPG files of the photos contained in the document.
At the end of the upload (it will take a few seconds) you can choose whether to download the images individually, by clicking on their thumbnails, or to download all the JPG files at the same time by pressing the Download as ZIP button . Also in this case, if you have not changed the default settings of the Web browser, the compressed archive in the Download folder of the computer.
Please note that if you prefer, you can save files directly to your Dropbox or Google Drive accounts. To do so, on the download page of the ZIP archive, click on the button of the reference cloud storage service instead of the button to download the file to your computer.
iLovePDF
iLovePDF is another online service dedicated to converting and editing PDF files. As in the case of the solutions already mentioned, it does not require registration and automatically deletes the files uploaded to its servers. It allows both to convert and extract images from PDFs and has an upload limit of 200 MB. In short, try it now and you’ll see that you will not regret it.
To use the service, go to its home page through the link that I have just provided you with and drag the PDF to be converted to JPG in the browser window. Alternatively, click on Select PDF file and select “manually” the files to act on or click on the buttons with the icons of Google Drive or Dropbox to pick up the files to be converted directly from your accounts of supported Storage cloud services.
At this point, choose whether to convert pages to JPG or extract images from PDF and presses the Convert to JPG button to start processing – and the subsequent download – of the images. PDF files converted to JPG will be stored in the Downloads folder of your computer, provided that, clearly, you have not modified the default imports of the Web browser you are using to surf the net.
Software to transform PDF to JPG
PDFill FREE PDF Tools (Windows)
You do not have a particularly fast Internet connection and you find exhausting the upload times on the aforementioned online services? No problem. You can convert your PDF to JPG also offline, for example with PDFill FREE PDF Tools . This is a free software for Windows that contains within it a wide range of tools to edit, convert and create PDF documents easily.
To download it to your PC, connected to its Internet site through the link that I have just provided you and click on the Download Now button twice in a row (once under the heading Get this tool only and another one in the page that opens) .
Then open the installation package of the program ( PDFill.exe ) and click on the Yes button and then on Next , accept the conditions of use of PDFill FREE PDF Tools putting the check mark next to the entry I accept the terms in the License Agreement and complete the setup by clicking in sequence on Next for two consecutive times, Install and Finish .
During the procedure will be downloaded from the Internet, and installed on the PC, even Ghost Script and .Net Framework , two free software necessary for the proper operation of the program.
At the end of the setup, start PDFill FREE PDF Tools, click the Convert PDF to images button and select the PDF document to be converted into a JPG file. Then check the next JPG entry , set a value equal to or greater than 300 in the Image resolution field (in order to obtain high resolution images), make sure that there is a value of 100 set in the JPG quality field (to generate images high quality) and click on the Save as image button to choose the folder in which to export JPG files.
If you do not want to convert the entire PDF but only a few pages of the document, set the start and end page numbers in the text fields placed next to the Select page from entry .
Nitro Reader (Windows)
Rather than converting the pages of a PDF into JPG files, would you like to extrapolate the images contained in the document? Ok, you can do this too. You ask me how? Well, simple: using the Nitro Reader software , an excellent PDF reader available in free version.
To download the free version of Nitro Reader on your computer, connected to the Internet site of the program through the link that I just indicated, fill out the form that is proposed by entering in it name, surname and email address then click first on the Download button Free and then on Download Nitro Reader (32 bit)if you are using a 32-bit operating system or Download Nitro Reader (64-bit) if you are using a 64-bit operating system.
When the download is complete, open the installation package of Nitro Reader (eg nitro_reader5_64.exe ), put the check mark next to the entry I accept the terms in the License Agreement and click on Install first and then on Yes and Finish to bring complete all the setup.
At this point, to extract the images from a PDF using Nitro Reader, import the document in question into the program and click on the Extract images button at the top. In the window that opens, click on the Options button , set the pull-down menus Extract color images as and Extract monochrome images as on JPG and click first on the OK button and then on the Extract button to start the extraction of the images.
Please note that by default, images will be saved as a JPG file in the PDF source folder. To choose another path, select the Specific folder item in the Output drop-down menu and click on the Browse button that is located next to it.
PDF Toolkit+ (Mac)
If you use a Mac you can convert PDF to JPG with PDF Toolkit + , a lightweight and compact application that allows you to edit and convert PDF documents in various ways. Unfortunately it is not free, it costs 1.99 euros, but I assure you that it is worth all the shopping.
To use it, download it from the Mac App Store using the link I mentioned earlier and start it. Then go to the Text / Images tab of PDF Toolkit +, drag the document to be converted in the program window and set the JPEG option in the drop down menu located at the bottom right.
Finally, make sure that there is the value High resolution (300 dpi) set in the drop down menu located under the Register as image and click the Convertbutton to choose the folder in which to save JPG images.
If you do not intend to spend money, you can try to turn PDF into JPG on Mac using one of the applications included as standard in MacOS and OS X: Previewor Automator .