How to convert a PDF to PNG on Mac or Windows

Upload forms, slides and chat apps often want an image, not a PDF. On a Mac, Preview saves a PDF as a PNG. Windows has no built-in export, so people take screenshots. To get every page as its own sharp PNG, or only the pages you pick, one convt command does it on both, without uploading the PDF anywhere.

Updated October 31, 2026

The short version

Mac: open the PDF in Preview, choose File › Export, set Format to PNG and click Save. Every page, Mac or Windows: convt report.pdf --to png writes one PNG per page. On Windows, type convt's full path instead of convt.

Save a PDF as PNG in Preview

From Apple's guide, Convert image file types in Preview. We haven't run it ourselves.

Open the PDF in Preview: right-click it and choose Open With › Preview.
Choose File › Export.
Open the Format menu and choose PNG. To get a JPG instead, choose JPEG, which adds a quality slider.
Choose where to save it and click Save.

Apple's guide is written for images and doesn't say what Preview does with a PDF that has several pages, so check that you got the page you wanted. For every page as its own file, or a set resolution, use convt.

PDF to PNG on Windows

From answers on Microsoft's Windows 11 forum. We haven't run it on Windows.

Windows 11 can open a PDF in Edge but can't save its pages as images. The usual workaround is a screenshot of each page:

Open the PDF in Microsoft Edge and zoom until the whole page fits and reads clearly.
Press Windows + Shift + S and drag over the page.
Open the capture in Snipping Tool, choose Save as and pick PNG.

A screenshot is only as sharp as your screen, and it's one page at a time. For small print, many pages or a whole folder of PDFs, convert them with convt instead.

Convert every page of a PDF to PNG with convt

Run with the released convt 0.5.0 command-line tool on Linux, on a 3-page PDF we made. convt renders PDFs with PDFium, which ships in the Mac and Windows installs too.

convt is a desktop app for Mac and Windows that converts files on your computer, with a command-line tool in the same install. Local conversions never upload your PDFs.

Install it from the download page or GitHub releases. On a Mac, Homebrew also puts the convt command in Terminal:

$ brew tap opencoredev/convt https://github.com/opencoredev/convt$ brew install --cask convt

On a Mac

In Terminal, go to the folder with the PDF and run this. If you installed from the disk image, type /Applications/convt.app/Contents/MacOS/convt instead of convt.

$ convt report.pdf --to png

Output

report.pdf -> report.png, report-2.png, report-3.png

On Windows

The installer doesn't add convt to your PATH, so PowerShell needs its full path:

$ & "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\convt\convt.exe" report.pdf --to png

A folder of PDFs

Give convt a folder instead of a file. -r includes subfolders and -o png writes the images into a new folder with the same subfolders. A folder input converts every file convt can turn into PNG, so a JPG in it gets a PNG copy too. Files that are already PNG are skipped. The first command is for a Mac, the second for PowerShell on Windows.

$ convt docs --to png -r -o png

$ & "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\convt\convt.exe" docs --to png -r -o png

Output

docs/report.pdf -> png/report.png, png/report-2.png, png/report-3.png
docs/2026/invoice.pdf -> png/2026/invoice.png, png/2026/invoice-2.png, png/2026/invoice-3.png
2 converted, 0 failed

Use --to jpg instead of --to png for scans and pages full of photos, where JPG is usually smaller. For text and line art, PNG stays crisp and was the smaller file in our test.

Pick the pages and the resolution

--pages 2: Only page 2. Ranges work too: --pages 1-3, or --pages 4- for page 4 to the end.
--dpi 300: Render at 300 dots per inch, for printing or zooming in. 150 is plenty for a screen.
--max-size 1200: Limits the longest side of each image to 1,200 pixels.
--background transparent: Keeps the page background see-through in PNG. The default is white.

$ convt report.pdf --to png --pages 2 --dpi 300

On Windows, put the same options after & "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\convt\convt.exe" report.pdf --to png.

Output

report.pdf -> report-2.png

What came out of our test

Every page: A 3-page PDF became report.png, report-2.png and report-3.png. The first page has no number.
Default size: A US Letter page came out 2000 × 2588 pixels.
--dpi 300: 2550 × 3300 pixels, print resolution for Letter. --dpi 150 gave 1275 × 1650.
--max-size 1000: 773 × 1000: the longest side capped at 1,000 pixels.
Background: White, as PDF viewers show it. --background transparent left it see-through in PNG.
Subfolders: With -r, a PDF in 2026/ was converted into png/2026/.

Asking for a page the PDF doesn't have stops with a clear message instead of writing nothing: the document has 3 pages, so pages 5 select nothing.

Questions

What resolution should I use?: For a screen, a slide or an upload form, the default is enough: a Letter page came out 2,000 pixels wide. Use --dpi 300 for printing or for small text you need to zoom into.
Can I convert a PDF to JPG instead?: Yes. Choose JPEG in Preview, or use --to jpg with convt. The page and resolution options work the same way.
Does convt upload my PDF?: Not for local conversions. The app and the command-line tool convert on your computer. The app uploads a file only if you pick Cloud for a job, which is part of convt Pro. For other images, see WebP to PNG or JPG, or every format convt handles on the formats page.