Convert a colour PDF to black and white (grayscale) for cheaper printing or submission rules. Pages are redrawn as grayscale images at the DPI you choose.
Works in your browser. What you paste or upload is processed on your device.
Tap the box and pick a PDF, or drag it onto the page. Type the password if it asks for one.
Compare page 1 in colour and grayscale, and open the full page list to check the other pages.
150 DPI suits screens and office printing. Choose 300 DPI for a print shop, or 100 DPI for the smallest file.
Press Convert to grayscale. A progress bar shows each page; then download the black and white PDF.
Grayscale PDF converts every page of a colour PDF into shades of gray. People use it to save colour ink and toner, to meet submission rules that ask for black and white documents, and to check how a design reads without colour. The tool shows the first page side by side in colour and in grayscale before you spend anything, and you can preview every page in grayscale too.
Each page is drawn with Mozilla's pdf.js engine at the resolution you choose (100, 150, 200 or 300 DPI), converted to gray using the standard luminance weights printer drivers use, and saved as a true single-channel grayscale JPEG on a page of exactly the same size. Storing one channel instead of three keeps the file smaller than a colour image of the same page.
Limits: because every page becomes an image, the text in the grayscale copy can no longer be selected, searched or copied, and links and form fields are removed. Small print stays readable at 150 DPI and above; 300 DPI keeps fine detail for a print shop but makes a larger file. Run the result through OCR PDF if you need searchable text again.
Printing a colour document in black and white from a printer dialog does not change the file, and some portals reject colour scans outright. A grayscale PDF prints the same on any printer, uses no colour ink, and is often smaller. Converting in your browser keeps the document on your device.
Something else? Ask the team
No. Each page is redrawn as a grayscale image, so text becomes part of the picture and links and form fields are removed. The page looks the same, only without colour. If you need selectable text, run the grayscale PDF through OCR PDF afterwards.
Yes. The pages are drawn and converted inside your browser, so the PDF never reaches our servers. Our server only records that a run happened, to count the free daily use.
150 DPI is right for reading on screen and for most office printing. Use 200 DPI if the document has very small print, and 300 DPI for professional printing. Higher DPI means a larger file; 100 DPI gives the smallest one.
Often, but not always. Colour photos and scans usually shrink because each page is stored as one gray channel. A text-only PDF can grow, because its text becomes an image. If size matters most, use Compress PDF instead.
Yes. Open this page in Safari or Chrome, choose the PDF from Files, iCloud Drive, Google Drive or your downloads, and press Convert to grayscale. The result downloads to Files or your Downloads folder.
No. Grayscale keeps every shade from white to black, so photos and shaded charts still read clearly. Pure black and white (one bit) would turn photos into blocks of black. Grayscale is what printers mean by printing in black and white.
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