How to save the pictures inside a PDF without taking screenshots
By the PdfDady team · Updated · 7 min read
Don't screenshot it. A screenshot captures your screen, so the picture comes out at whatever size it happened to be displayed, usually much smaller than the image stored in the file. The better way is to extract the images, which pulls the stored pictures out of the PDF as separate files at their own resolution.
Our Extract Images from PDF tool does this in the browser. Add the PDF and download one ZIP with every image it could save. Photos stored as JPEG are copied exactly as they are in the file. The PDF is not uploaded.
Screenshot, page conversion or extraction
There are three ways to get a picture out of a PDF, and they give different results.
| Method | What you get | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Screenshot | Whatever is on screen, including the app's toolbar if you're not careful | Limited by your screen. Needs cropping |
| Convert the page to an image | The whole page as one picture, text and margins included | Depends on the DPI you choose. The photo is redrawn |
| Extract the images | Each embedded picture as its own file | The stored original |
A PDF does not flatten a photo into the page. It keeps the photo as a separate object inside the file and notes where to draw it. The PDF format even allows JPEG data to be stored as it is. That is why extraction can hand back the photo untouched: it is still in there, whole.
So for a photo, logo or illustration, extraction usually wins. For anything that isn't stored as an image, it can't help, and that case is covered further down.
How to extract the images
- Open Extract Images from PDF and add your PDF (one file, up to 100 MB).
- Wait a moment while every embedded image is found.
- Optionally, skip tiny images. This leaves out icons, bullets and spacers smaller than 32 pixels, which many PDFs are full of.
- Download
pdf-images.zip. The files inside are namedimage-001.jpg,image-002.pngand so on.
On a phone, tap the ZIP in your Files app to open it, then save the pictures you want to your gallery.
What format the images come out in
You will see a mix of JPG and PNG files in the ZIP. That is deliberate.
JPEG photos are copied byte for byte. Nothing is re-compressed, so there is no quality loss at all. You get the exact image in the PDF.
Everything else becomes a lossless PNG. Grey, RGB and palette images are decoded and saved at their stored resolution. If the PDF gave an image transparency, the PNG keeps it. A logo with a see-through background stays that way.
"Original quality" needs one honest caveat. You get the image as stored in the PDF. If whoever made the PDF shrank the photos to keep the file small (most export settings do), the stored image is that smaller version. The full-size photo from the camera is not hiding in there.
Why some pictures are missing
This is the most common complaint, and there is nearly always a plain reason.
It isn't an image. Charts, graphs, diagrams and many logos are drawn with lines and shapes, not stored as pictures. The same goes for text, including fancy headings. Zoom in on it in the PDF: if it stays perfectly smooth at 400%, it is a drawing, and there is nothing to extract.
It is a rare image type. A few formats, such as CMYK images (common in files prepared for commercial printing), are not saved. The tool counts these as skipped so you know they exist.
You switched on "skip tiny images" and it was small. Turn the option off and download again.
The PDF is password-protected. Remove the password first with Unlock PDF, which needs you to know the password, then extract.
For the first two cases, convert the page instead. That works for anything visible.
When converting the page is the better choice
Use PDF to JPG when what you want is not a stored image, or when you want the page as a whole:
- a chart or diagram drawn in the PDF
- a table, or a block of text, as a picture
- a full page of a certificate or statement to share as an image
- an image the extractor skipped
Pick the pages, choose JPG or PNG, and choose 72, 150 or 300 DPI. For a chart you plan to reuse, 300 DPI and PNG gives the cleanest edges. You get the full page, so crop it afterwards in your phone's gallery or any image editor.
The two tools answer different questions. PDF to JPG saves whole pages as pictures. Extraction saves only the images inside the PDF, at their own resolution. If you want detail on resolution choices, see our guide to getting high-resolution images from a PDF.
Scanned PDFs behave differently
A scanned PDF is a stack of photographs of paper. Each page is usually one big image.
Extract from one and you get one image per page, not the individual photos printed on that page. If page 3 of a scanned album shows four photographs, you will get page 3 as a single picture and will have to crop the four out yourself.
This can still be useful. Extraction gives you each scanned page at its stored size with no re-compression if it was stored as JPEG, which is the best version of that page you can get from the file.
Things that look odd in the ZIP
Lots of tiny files. Bullets, lines, icons and background tiles are often stored as small images. Use the skip option.
The same logo many times. A logo on every page may be stored once or once per page, depending on how the PDF was made.
A picture in pieces. Some software stores one large picture as several strips or tiles. The extractor saves what is stored, so you may get the pieces. If that happens, convert the page instead and crop.
An image that looks different from the page. PDFs can crop, rotate or tint an image when drawing it. Extraction gives you the stored image before those adjustments. Again, converting the page gives you what you see.
A word on using the images
Being able to save an image doesn't make it yours to reuse. Photos and illustrations in someone else's brochure, textbook or report belong to their owners. Saving a copy for personal reference is one thing. Republishing it is another, and needs permission or a licence.
For your own files there is nothing to think about: the photos in your own project report, the scans of your own certificates, the pictures in a PDF album someone in the family made.
Questions people ask
How do I save just one image from a PDF?
Extract them all and keep the one you want. The ZIP downloads in one go, and with tiny images skipped it is usually short.
Do I get the original quality?
For JPEG photos, yes: they are copied exactly as stored. Other images are saved as lossless PNG at their stored resolution. Neither is re-compressed.
Why did I get PNG files when I expected JPG?
Only images stored as JPEG come out as JPG. Everything else is saved as PNG so that nothing is lost. If you need a JPG, any image editor or our Image Resizer can save one.
Can I extract images from a PDF on my phone?
Yes. The tool works in a phone browser. You will need to open the ZIP afterwards, which the Files app on both Android and iPhone can do.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The images are read from the file in your browser, and the PDF stays on your device.