How Do You Extract Images From a PDF?
You extract images from a PDF by opening it in QuickCatPDF's Extract Images from PDF tool and clicking Extract images. The tool finds the photos and pictures embedded in the PDF and saves them at their original resolution; JPEG photos are copied out exactly as they were stored, without being re-compressed.
The PDF is opened in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.
How to Extract Images From a PDF With QuickCatPDF
Saving the images inside a PDF takes four steps.
- Click Select PDF file or drop the PDF on the page. Enter the password if it's protected.
- Choose the pages to search, or leave all pages ticked.
- Keep Skip small images ticked to ignore icons and lines, or untick it to save everything.
- Click Extract images, then download single images or Download ZIP.
Each image is named with its page and number, for example "brochure-p3-img2.jpg".
Why Use QuickCatPDF to Extract Images?
QuickCatPDF saves images at original quality. Taking a screenshot of a page, or converting the page to an image, captures the photo at screen resolution and mixes it with text. Extracting gives you the actual image file stored in the PDF, at its full pixel size.
JPEG photos are copied byte for byte: in our test, the extracted photo was identical to the JPEG file that went into the PDF. Images in other formats are decoded and saved as lossless PNG.
Repeated images, such as a logo on every page, are saved only once, and tiny images under 50 × 50 pixels are skipped unless you untick the option.
What Counts as an Image in a PDF?
Photos, scanned pages, pasted pictures and screenshots are stored as images, so the tool finds them. Text, tables, charts drawn by software and logos made of vector shapes are not images; they're drawn by instructions, so there's no picture file to extract.
If a page looks like a picture but nothing is found, it's probably made of shapes or text. In that case, use PDF to PNG to save the whole page as an image. A scanned PDF usually contains one large image per page, which the tool extracts at the scanner's resolution.
Extract Images or Convert Pages to Images?
Extract when you want the original photos from a brochure, report or catalogue. Convert pages when you want each page as it looks, with text and layout.
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| The photos inside the PDF, at full quality | Extract Images from PDF |
| Each page as a picture | PDF to JPG or PDF to Image |
| All pages in one download | PDF to ZIP |
Frequently asked questions
Will the extracted images lose quality?
No, JPEG photos are copied out unchanged, and other images are saved as lossless PNG at their stored size. The only exception is password-protected PDFs, where JPEG photos are decoded and saved as PNG, still without visible loss.
Is it free to extract images from a PDF?
Yes, QuickCatPDF is free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limit.
Why were no images found?
The PDF probably contains text and vector drawings only, which aren't images. Convert the pages to PNG instead to capture what you see.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No, the images are extracted in your browser on your own device.
Can I extract images from only some pages?
Yes, tick only those pages in the preview or type a range in Pages before extracting.
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