Rasterize a PDF
Every page drawn into a picture, so what you see is exactly what prints.
Drop files here
or click to choose from your deviceAccepted: PDF
One file per runUp to 20 MB per file5 runs per dayFree PDFs end with a small “Made with nouplo.com” lineRemove limits with Pro✓ Works offline
Your files stay on your device
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and you can even turn off your internet connection before you start.
Example
Example: a 4-page holiday concert program checked in grayscale before copying
A school PTA made program.pdf, 4 Letter pages with a navy title, red and green headings and a pale yellow box for the bake-sale note. 150 copies will come off the office’s black-and-white copier, so the file is first run with Colour “Grayscale” at 200 dpi to see what the colours turn into.
- Each page is drawn at 200 dpi, 1700 × 2200 pixels for a Letter page, and turned grey with the usual weights: about 30 % of the red, 59 % of the green and 11 % of the blue.
- The pale yellow box comes out at 237 on a scale where 255 is white, barely darker than the paper, so in grey the box all but disappears.
- The red and green headings land at 74 and 89, so close that they no longer tell two kinds of heading apart.
- Grayscale pages are saved as JPEG. Black and white would save two colours as PNG and turn light shades such as the yellow box to plain white.
| Colour in the program | Grey it becomes (0 black, 255 white) |
|---|---|
| Navy #1F2A5A | 44 |
| Red #C8102E | 74 |
| Green #1B7F3B | 89 |
| Light blue #9BCBEB | 192 |
| Gold #FFD700 | 202 |
| Pale yellow #FFF2A8 | 237 |
program-gray.pdf, 4 Letter pages made of pictures, each the size it was. The text can no longer be selected, so the PTA keeps program.pdf for changes: a darker box and one heading colour, then one more grayscale check and off to the copier.
How it works
- Drop a PDF onto the box, or choose it from your device.
- Choose colour, grayscale, or black and white for pages of text and line drawings.
- Choose the resolution: 200 dpi is sharp on screen and on paper, 300 dpi for print work, 150 dpi for the smallest file.
- Select Rasterize PDF and download the new PDF. Each page keeps its original size.
Frequently asked questions
- What changes when a PDF is rasterized?
- Each page becomes one image. The text can no longer be selected, searched or copied, links and form fields stop working, and the file is usually larger than the original. What stays is exactly how each page looks, which is the point when a printer or a submission system mis-draws fonts or transparency.
- Does this protect my PDF from being copied?
- Only from casual copying. Text can no longer be selected, but anyone can still take a screenshot, and text recognition reads a rasterized page back into text in seconds. To keep a file closed, protect it with a password; to take something out of it for good, redact it.
- Which resolution should I choose?
- 200 dpi reads well on any screen and prints cleanly. 300 dpi is what print shops ask for and makes the largest file. 150 dpi is enough for reading on screen when the file must be small.
- When should I use black and white?
- For pages of text, forms and line drawings. Each page is split into ink and paper at the level that suits that page, which gives crisp, small files. Photographs lose their shades in black and white; use grayscale for those.
- How many pixels is a page at each resolution?
- A Letter page becomes 1275 × 1650 pixels at 150 dpi, 1700 × 2200 at 200 dpi and 2550 × 3300 at 300 dpi; a Legal page 1275 × 2100, 1700 × 2800 and 2550 × 4200. Every page keeps its size in inches, so it prints the same size as the original.
- Why is the rasterized PDF bigger than the original?
- A page of text is stored as letters and a font, a few kilobytes; as a picture it is every pixel. Colour and grayscale pages are saved as JPEG, black and white as two-colour PNG, which is usually the smallest for pages of text. For a smaller file choose 150 dpi.
- Is the PDF uploaded, and what are the free limits?
- It is not uploaded: each page is drawn in your browser and the new PDF is built here. The free plan takes one PDF of up to 20 MB per run, 5 runs a day, and adds a small "Made with nouplo.com" line to the last page. Pro removes the line and the limits.