Convert PDF to Images with Python

Convert PDF to Images with Python

Converting PDF pages to PNG or JPEG images is useful for previews, OCR processing, and thumbnail generation. Python offers pdf2image (poppler-based) and PyMuPDF (fitz).

Option 1: pdf2image + poppler

pip install pdf2image pillow
# Poppler backend:
# Windows: https://github.com/oschwartz10612/poppler-windows (extract to C:/poppler)
# macOS: brew install poppler
# Linux: apt install poppler-utils

Basic PDF to PNG Conversion

from pdf2image import convert_from_path
from pathlib import Path

def pdf_to_png(pdf_path, output_dir="pages", dpi=150):
    Path(output_dir).mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    pages = convert_from_path(pdf_path, dpi=dpi)
    paths = []
    for i, page in enumerate(pages, 1):
        path = f"{output_dir}/page_{i:03d}.png"
        page.save(path, "PNG")
        paths.append(path)
        print(f"  Page {i}/{len(pages)}: {path}")
    print(f"Converted {len(pages)} pages")
    return paths

pdf_to_png("document.pdf", dpi=200)

Convert Specific Pages

from pdf2image import convert_from_path

# Pages 2-5 (first_page/last_page are 1-indexed)
pages = convert_from_path("report.pdf", dpi=150, first_page=2, last_page=5)
for i, page in enumerate(pages, 2):
    page.save(f"page_{i}.jpg", "JPEG", quality=85)
print(f"Exported {len(pages)} pages")

Export to JPEG with Quality Control

from pdf2image import convert_from_path
from pathlib import Path

def pdf_to_jpeg(pdf_path, output_dir, dpi=150, quality=85):
    Path(output_dir).mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    pages = convert_from_path(pdf_path, dpi=dpi, fmt="jpeg")
    for i, page in enumerate(pages, 1):
        page.save(f"{output_dir}/page_{i:03d}.jpg", "JPEG", quality=quality)
    print(f"Exported {len(pages)} pages as JPEG (quality={quality})")

pdf_to_jpeg("catalog.pdf", "thumbnails", dpi=100, quality=75)

Option 2: PyMuPDF (fitz) — Faster, No poppler

pip install pymupdf

Convert with PyMuPDF

import fitz  # PyMuPDF

def pdf_to_images_fitz(pdf_path, output_dir="pages", dpi=150):
    from pathlib import Path
    Path(output_dir).mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    doc   = fitz.open(pdf_path)
    zoom  = dpi / 72  # PDF base is 72 DPI
    mat   = fitz.Matrix(zoom, zoom)
    paths = []
    for i, page in enumerate(doc):
        pixmap = page.get_pixmap(matrix=mat)
        path   = f"{output_dir}/page_{i+1:03d}.png"
        pixmap.save(path)
        paths.append(path)
        print(f"  Page {i+1}/{doc.page_count}")
    doc.close()
    return paths

pdf_to_images_fitz("document.pdf", dpi=200)

Generate First-Page Thumbnail

import fitz
from PIL import Image
import io

def pdf_thumbnail(pdf_path, output, width=300):
    doc    = fitz.open(pdf_path)
    page   = doc[0]
    zoom   = width / page.rect.width
    pixmap = page.get_pixmap(matrix=fitz.Matrix(zoom, zoom))
    img    = Image.open(io.BytesIO(pixmap.tobytes("png")))
    img.save(output)
    doc.close()
    print(f"Thumbnail: {output} ({img.width}x{img.height}px)")

pdf_thumbnail("report.pdf", "thumb.jpg")

Extract Embedded Images from PDF

import fitz
from pathlib import Path

def extract_pdf_images(pdf_path, output_dir="images"):
    Path(output_dir).mkdir(exist_ok=True)
    doc     = fitz.open(pdf_path)
    counter = 0
    for page_num, page in enumerate(doc):
        for img_idx, img in enumerate(page.get_images()):
            xref  = img[0]
            image = doc.extract_image(xref)
            path  = f"{output_dir}/img_p{page_num+1}_{img_idx+1}.{image['ext']}"
            with open(path, "wb") as f:
                f.write(image["image"])
            counter += 1
    doc.close()
    print(f"Extracted {counter} images to {output_dir}/")

extract_pdf_images("catalog.pdf")

pdf2image vs PyMuPDF Comparison

Additional Resource

For converting PDF to JPG, PNG or WebP without any coding, use KaijuConverter — free and no registration required.

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