Grayscale PDF Converter

Turn every page of a PDF into shades of grey.

Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded — your input is processed on this device and discarded when you close the tab.

Grayscale PDF Converter

How to use this tool

  1. Choose a PDF. One PDF at a time, up to 50 MB. The file is read on this device only.
  2. Convert. Every page is rendered, each pixel is converted to its grey value, and the pages are rebuilt into a new PDF.
  3. Download and check. Open the greyscale copy before deleting the colour original.

Worked example

The built-in sample is a one-page colour PDF with a red rectangle, a blue rectangle and green text. After conversion the rectangles and text are shades of grey: pure red (255, 0, 0) becomes grey 76, pure green (0, 255, 0) becomes 150, pure blue (0, 0, 255) becomes 29 and white stays 255, using the standard luminance weights 0.299, 0.587 and 0.114.

What this tool does not do / Limits

The output pages are images, not the original pages recoloured. That means text in the output is no longer selectable or searchable, vector graphics are rasterised, and the file may end up larger than the original. Password-protected PDFs cannot be opened here. Very long documents take a while because every page is rendered one at a time.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the output an image instead of a recoloured PDF?

Recolouring every vector element, image and annotation inside a PDF faithfully is a different, much larger job. Rendering each page and greying the pixels is honest and predictable, and the page says plainly what you lose.

Will the greyscale copy print well?

Yes, for printing and photocopying it is the usual reason to convert. Check contrast first: light colours that differed only in hue can become similar greys.

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