PDF, explained.
Read pages as images, or combine images into one document.
A document can contain more than pictures
PDF pages can combine text, vector graphics, images and interactive structures. A scan may instead contain only a page image, sometimes with an invisible OCR layer. Before choosing a tool, check whether you need selectable text, forms or existing signatures. Keep the original; rendering a page as an image changes what the result can preserve.
Page tools and image conversion solve different problems
Use the PDF tools hub to merge documents, split pages or change page order. PDF-to-image conversion renders the selected pages into separate raster files; it does not preserve selectable text, vector paths or form fields in those image files. Image-to-PDF creates a document from pictures and does not add OCR or make scanned lettering searchable.
Compress a scan only when it is eligible
The scanned PDF compressor rebuilds likely image-only pages with JPEG images. Detected text, OCR, interactive or signed documents and uncertain pages are blocked. It is not an arbitrary PDF optimizer. Lower resolution can erase small print, and already optimized scans may grow; preview representative pages and check the full output bytes.
A practical workflow
- Open PDF Tools and choose page editing, text extraction, image export or scan compression for the actual document.
- Review the page range, detected text and any eligibility or signature warnings.
- Open the exported file and check page order, dimensions, legibility and text behavior before replacing a working copy.
What you can do here
- Input: supported.
- Output: supported.
- Transparency in output: filled with white.
- Quality control: no quality slider.
GIF offers first/all frame extraction. TIFF supports all/selected pages; PDF renders selected pages separately. Other animated sources export a still frame with a warning. EXIF metadata is removed from converted images.
Common questions
Does converting images to PDF add searchable text?
No. Image-to-PDF embeds pictures. OCR requires a separate text-recognition workflow, which this website does not provide.
Can PDF to Text read a photographed page?
It extracts an existing selectable text layer. An image-only scan has no such layer; text extraction is not OCR.