Convert PDF to JPG on Linux

Margarete Cotty

2021-11-29 13:52:18 • Filed to: Knowledge of PDF • Proven solutions

Converting PDF to JPG in Linux requires tools that are different from most standard Windows and even Mac software. To convert PDF to JPG in Linux, you can use some powerful command-line (Terminal) utilities that most Windows users aren't even aware of. For example, a Linux PDF to JPG conversion can be done by using either a command-line tool like pdftoppm or with GIMP, which has a graphical interface. In the example below, we'll show you how to use the command-line option to convert PDF to JPG in Ubuntu using pdftoppm, which is part of the poppler-utils suite of tools for Linux users.

Part 1: How to Convert PDF to JPG on Linux
Part 2: How to Convert PDF to JPG on Windows and Mac

How to Convert PDF to JPG on Linux (with Ubuntu as an example)

The steps are fairly straightforward to convert PDF to JPG in Linux Ubuntu so you don't need any extensive experience. However, it does help if you've worked with command-line utilities before. In addition, the installation command is slightly different for various Linux distros or distributions. This example shows you the Ubuntu command for installation and conversion.

1. Open a Terminal window in your Ubuntu desktop and run this command without quotes: "sudo apt install poppler-utils". Hit "Enter" to run the command.
2. Once the poppler-tools applications are installed, use this command followed by Enter (again, no quotes): "pdftoppm -jpeg document.pdf document" The command essentially tells the app to convert the file called "document.pdf" into a file called "document.jpg" You can also change it to "-png" if you prefer that as your output file. Please note that you should use the full form - jpeg - instead of just jpg.

That's how to convert PDF to JPG in Linux running Ubuntu. If you're a Windows or Mac user, you can use an application called PDFelement. This versatile PDF editor and conversion tool contains all the features you will ever need to process a PDF file.

How to Convert PDF to JPG on Windows and Mac

PDFelement is a professional PDF editor with basic and advanced features for creating PDFs, editing PDFs, converting to and from PDF, protecting PDFs, signing and filling PDF forms, annotating PDF files, performing OCR, batch-processing PDFs, and many such PDF tasks. Here's a quick run-through of key features:

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Create PDFs from 300+ other file types. You can also combine several source files of different types to make a single, large PDF file. This gives users a lot of flexibility because they can convert their entire document repository into a PDF archive that can be stored, searched, and edited.
Edit PDFs by changing any existing content, adding elements, or removing them. Some PDF editors will only allow you to overwrite content but this program gives you full freedom to change anything about the existing content, including static parts like footers, etc.
Convert PDFs to a host of other formats including JPG and other image types, Office files, HTML5, Text, ePub, etc. The conversion engine is super-fast and highly accurate, so all the original formatting, font attributes, alignment, etc. are perfectly maintained in the output file after conversion.
Protect PDF files with strong file encryption (password-based) and advanced permission levels for editing, printing, copying, viewing, etc. It provides security and flexibility, making it easy to manage access levels for different users who need to work with the same shared document.
Fill and sign PDF forms, create interactive forms, convert from other form types, extract data, perform automatic form field recognition, import and export data, etc. Form management is made easy and convenient when you have PDFelement at your service. Even complex forms with different types of form elements can be easily managed with this application.
Advanced processes like batch processing and OCR are available. Any image-based PDF that has been generated from a scanner can be converted with OCR into an editable or searchable (indexable) format. You can also directly use text recognition when scanning physical documents.

Now, let's look at the methods for how to convert PDF to JPG on Windows and how to convert PDF to JPG on Mac.

Windows:

Step 1. Use the "Open File" option in the welcome page. Dragging and dropping the file also works.
Step 2. Choose "To Image" as the conversion option under the "Convert" tab. This will take you to the "Save As" page in Explorer, where you can specify the output file type "Image Files(*.JPG)" and the output folder for the converted file.
Step 3. When you're ready to start the conversion, simply hit "Save" and wait for the conversion and file-saving to be complete.

It's that simple! Not only can you convert PDF to JPG this way, but as you saw, PDFelement offers numerous other conversion options. The next section shows you how to convert PDF to JPG in Mac using PDFelement for Mac.

Mac:

The macOS version of PDFelement is designed to suit the platform, so there are noticeable differences between this and the Windows version, which is designed for a better Windows experience. Here are the steps to go through:

Step 1. For macOS, the same method can be used to open the file as in the Windows version described above. Click the "Open File" option or use the "File → Open" menu to import the PDF into the software.
Step 2. Next, click on "File → Export To → Image → JPEG (.jpg)". This will open a new Finder window with a "Save" button. Choose the target folder to save the converted file and hit "Save" when ready.