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Extract Images from PDF

Pull out every embedded image inside your PDF as individual files in one pass. FixTools scans the PDF content stream for image objects, retrieves them at their original embedded resolution, and saves them for download without converting anything to a flat page render. The result is a set of standalone JPG, PNG, or TIFF files that match the original source images byte for byte where possible, which preserves quality far better than a screenshot of the assembled page would. The tool runs entirely in your browser, requires no account, adds no watermark, and works on documents from short product flyers to multi-hundred page reports.

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Cost: Free forever
Sign-up: Not required
Processing: In your browser
Privacy: Files stay local

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Extracts all embedded images in the PDF

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Saves each image as a separate file

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No upload, processed entirely in your browser

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The difference between extracting images and converting pages to images

PDF files store visual content in two fundamentally different ways, and understanding the distinction is the key to choosing the right tool. Embedded images are stored as discrete objects inside the PDF content stream. They are real image files, typically JPEG, PNG, or TIFF, that were placed into the PDF at the moment of creation and that retain their original pixel data inside the document. Image extraction retrieves these original objects directly. Page to image conversion, by contrast, rasterises the entire page layout, including text, vector graphics, and background elements, into a single flat raster image. The two operations produce different results: extraction returns the original embedded files, conversion returns a flat screenshot of each page.

The practical implication is that extracted images are often substantially higher quality than the equivalent page conversion output, sometimes dramatically so. If a PDF was created from a Word document containing a 2000 by 2000 pixel photograph, the photograph is stored inside the PDF at that original resolution. Extracting it retrieves the full 2000 by 2000 pixel image. Converting the same page to an image at 150 DPI on an A4 layout produces only a 1240 by 1754 pixel image of the entire page, and the photograph occupies only a fraction of that frame, which means the photograph is effectively extracted at a much lower resolution than the original. For workflows that need the embedded images at native resolution, direct extraction is the correct approach by a wide margin.

Not every PDF contains extractable embedded images, however. PDFs created from scanned paper documents store the scan as a single large raster image per page rather than as a set of individual embedded image objects. In that case, extraction returns the full page scan as one image per page, which is essentially the same result as page to image conversion. PDFs created from design applications such as InDesign typically embed individual image objects cleanly and return them as discrete files. PDFs created by printing from a web browser often rasterise the page layout into one image per page, which collapses any individual embedded images into the rasterised whole.

A second consideration is what happens to vector graphics during extraction. Vector content, such as charts produced by Excel, diagrams drawn in PowerPoint, or logos created in Illustrator, is not stored as image data inside the PDF. Vector graphics live in the content stream as path and font commands, and extraction does not return them, because they are not images in the technical sense the PDF format defines. If your goal is to retrieve a chart or logo that was created as vector content in the source application, page to image conversion is the right approach, because it rasterises the vector commands and returns a pixel image suitable for use in tools that cannot render vector content.

PDF image extraction (Mozilla PDF.js)PDF content stream specification

How to use this tool

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Upload your PDF and click Extract Images. FixTools identifies all embedded image objects in the PDF and offers them for download as individual files.

How It Works

Step-by-step guide to extract images from pdf:

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Upload your PDF
Select your PDF or drag it onto the FixTools converter to load it into local browser memory. Because everything happens on your device, the source file is never transmitted to any external server, which makes the workflow safe for confidential or sensitive documents that you would not feel comfortable uploading to a third party service.
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Start extraction
Click Extract Images and let the tool scan the PDF content stream for embedded image objects. The scan walks every page in the document, identifies each image XObject, and reads the original pixel data along with the format and dimensions metadata. Progress is reported page by page so you can see how the scan is advancing through long documents.
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Review extracted images
FixTools displays the extracted images in a grid that shows each thumbnail along with its pixel dimensions, estimated file size, and detected format. That preview lets you confirm which images are worth keeping before downloading anything, which is helpful for large source PDFs that contain dozens of images you may not need in full.
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Download
Download individual images by clicking the thumbnail, or click Download All to receive a ZIP archive containing every extracted image. Files inside the archive carry sequential names that reflect the page they were found on, which makes it easy to associate each image with its original location in the source document during later organisation.

Real-world examples

Common situations where this approach makes a real difference:

Content creator recovering product images from a PDF catalogue

A retailer holds a supplier PDF catalogue containing high resolution product photos that they need for their own e-commerce site. Extracting the images recovers the original embedded JPEGs at full source resolution, which the retailer can then use in product listings without the quality degradation that would come from screen capture or low DPI page conversion methods, and the entire workflow takes a few minutes per catalogue.

Journalist sourcing photos from a PDF press kit

A reporter receives a twenty five page press kit PDF containing roughly fifteen high resolution press photos along with text and layout chrome. Extracting the images returns the original embedded files at the resolution the press team intended for editorial use, which means the reporter can drop them directly into the article CMS without any further processing and the published photos look exactly as the press team approved.

Teacher recovering diagrams from a PDF resource

A high school teacher holds a PDF study guide that contains scientific diagrams they want to reuse in a classroom slide deck. Extracting the diagrams returns them as individual image files that drop directly into PowerPoint or Google Slides without the white background bleed and surrounding page chrome that a page to image conversion would carry along into the new layout, which keeps the deck looking polished.

Archivist extracting historical photographs from digitised documents

A regional library has digitised a historical publication into a PDF and now wants to add each photograph in the publication to a public image archive. Extracting embedded photographs produces a clean set of individual image files that the archivist can catalogue with titles, dates, and rights metadata, then ingest into the archive database. Because each photograph is a separate file, the cataloguing workflow runs efficiently.

Pro tips

Get better results with these expert suggestions:

Check image dimensions after extraction

After extraction completes, examine the pixel dimensions reported for each image. If the dimensions look unexpectedly small, for example below 500 by 500 pixels for what appeared to be a full page photograph, the PDF creator probably downsampled the images during PDF export. In that case, the higher quality option may actually be a 300 DPI page conversion of the relevant page, which can sometimes produce larger usable images than direct extraction.

For scanned PDFs, use page conversion instead

If your source PDF was created from a flatbed or feeder scanner, extracting will typically return one large JPEG per page that represents the entire scanned sheet. There is no benefit over straight page to image conversion in that case, and the page conversion path gives you more control over output DPI. Image extraction adds the most value when the source PDF was authored from design software or a word processor with multiple embedded images per page.

Match the extracted image format to intended use

Embedded images inside PDFs are typically JPEG for photographs and PNG or TIFF for graphics. After extraction, confirm the file format for each image. If you need PNG output for transparency in a web layout but the source embedded the asset as JPEG, run the extracted files through the FixTools Image Format Converter to convert them. That keeps the workflow tidy and avoids guessing at the source format during downstream editing.

Combine extraction with PDF splitter for large documents

For PDFs that run to hundreds of pages, split the document into sections of around twenty pages each using the FixTools PDF Splitter, then run extraction on each section. The smaller batches keep browser memory usage in a comfortable range, let you download images in organised groups, and make it easier to identify which images came from which part of the source document during the cataloguing step that usually follows extraction.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Image extraction retrieves the original embedded image files stored as discrete objects inside the PDF, returning them at their original pixel resolution and in their original format. Page conversion rasterises the entire page layout, including text, vector graphics, and embedded images, into a single flat raster image at a DPI you choose. Extracted images are usually larger and cleaner because they bypass the resolution constraints of page conversion. Page conversion produces a screenshot of each full page in the layout. The two operations serve different needs and are not interchangeable.

Yes, in most cases, provided the source PDF embedded images at full resolution at the time of creation. Some PDF producers downsample images during export to reduce file size, for example Microsoft Word with its Standard quality setting reduces images to 220 DPI. If the original PDF author downsampled during export, the extracted images will reflect that reduced quality and there is no way to recover the lost detail after the fact. Inspect the dimensions of an extracted sample first to confirm the source quality before assuming full resolution is available.

Extracted images come out in their original embedded format, typically JPEG for photographs and PNG or TIFF for graphics and screenshots. FixTools preserves the original format rather than re-encoding the images during extraction, which avoids any additional quality loss from a redundant compression pass. If you need a different format for downstream use, run the extracted files through the FixTools Image Format Converter as a separate step. That two stage workflow ensures that the original quality is preserved through extraction and that any conversion is explicit rather than incidental.

No, not directly. Password protected PDFs require the password to be entered before any content stream operations can run, including image extraction. You must first unlock the PDF using the FixTools Unlock PDF tool, which removes the password protection once you provide the correct password, and then run image extraction against the unprotected file. If you do not have the password, neither extraction nor any other content level operation is possible, and that limitation is a function of the PDF format itself rather than the tool.

Some PDFs store page backgrounds, decorative elements, and even charts as vector graphics rather than as embedded raster images. Vector graphics are not returned by image extraction because they are not stored as image objects in the PDF content stream. Only rasterised images embedded in the content stream are recoverable through extraction. If a chart appears in the PDF but does not appear in the extraction results, the chart is probably vector content. In that case, use the PDF to JPG page converter to rasterise the relevant page and recover the chart that way.

Yes. Like every FixTools operation, image extraction runs entirely in your browser without uploading the source file to any external server. The PDF is read into local browser memory through the Web File API, the extraction scan operates against that in memory copy, and the results are presented for local download. No content is transmitted to FixTools infrastructure at any point in the workflow. You can confirm the privacy guarantee by opening the browser developer tools and watching the Network tab while extraction runs, where no outbound transfer of file data appears.

If the extraction scan returns no images, the PDF most likely stores all visual content as vector graphics, or stores the entire page as a single raster object that the scanner treated as one image per page rather than as discrete embedded objects. In that case, switch to the PDF to JPG page converter, which rasterises the full page layout and captures every visual element regardless of how it is stored in the underlying content stream. The page conversion workflow always returns output, even when extraction returns nothing.

Yes, but with a caveat. The extracted image returns the full original pixel data, not the cropped portion as it appears on the page. PDF cropping is implemented as a display clipping mask that hides part of the embedded image without modifying the underlying pixels. Extraction returns the full embedded image including the hidden region. That behaviour is usually desirable when you want the original asset, but it can be surprising if you expected only the visible crop. If you need the visible crop, do a page conversion instead and crop the result.

For most PDFs, yes. Embedded images that carry an ICC colour profile retain that profile through extraction because FixTools does not re-encode the image data. The output file carries the same colour profile metadata as the source embedded object. That matters for design and print workflows where colour accuracy is important. If the embedded image lacks a colour profile in the source PDF, the extracted image will likewise lack one, and downstream tools will assume sRGB by default unless you assign a different profile manually.

Extraction is generally fast because it does not require rendering, only walking the content stream and copying out image objects. A typical fifty page PDF with twenty embedded images finishes in a few seconds on modern desktop hardware. Larger documents with hundreds of embedded images may take ten to thirty seconds depending on total data size. On phones, double those estimates as a rough guide. Throughout the extraction, the tool reports progress page by page, so you always have a clear sense of how much of the document has been scanned.