PDF to Black and White Converter

This page turns a color PDF into grayscale or into pure black and white. Add your PDF to the box above, pick Grayscale or Pure black & white, choose how the change should be made, and press the button. You get a new PDF back with the same pages, the same layout and the same text, just without the color.

There are three ways to do it, because people need it for different reasons. Keep text sharp is quick and keeps text selectable. Smaller file runs on our server and makes the PDF lighter. Pages as pictures redraws every page in your browser, so it looks the same everywhere. Each one is explained below, including which one really makes the file smaller.

It is free, there is no sign-up and no watermark, and you can do up to 20 PDFs of up to 100 MB each in one go.

Color is great on a screen, but it is often a problem on paper and in upload forms. Color printing costs more, many shared printers block it, and some offices still ask for documents with no color at all. A grey copy of the same PDF solves all three.

Removing color can also make a file easier to read. Light colored text on a colored box often prints as a muddy patch, while a clean grey or black version keeps the contrast. And a scan of a white page saved in color carries a lot of data you do not need, which makes it slow to send.

Finally, a grey version is useful as a check. If a chart or slide still makes sense in grey, it will also work on a black ink printer, in a photocopy, and for readers who see some colors poorly.

Keep text sharp adds one invisible layer over each page. The layer uses a PDF blend mode called Saturation, which tells the reader app to drop all color from everything underneath. Nothing in the original page is changed, so text stays as real text, lines stay as clean vectors, and you can still search, select and copy. The file size stays about the same. Adobe Reader, Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Preview on Mac all show the result in grey. A few very simple apps and some e-readers ignore blend modes and may still show the original colors.

Smaller file sends the PDF to our server, where Ghostscript, a well-known open-source PDF engine, rewrites every color as grey, or as black or white, and compresses the file at the same time. This is a real conversion: the color is gone from the file itself, not hidden by a layer. When the job is done, your PDF is deleted from the server. When you pick Pure black & white, this option is called Best (our server).

Pages as pictures draws every page in your browser at 100 to 300 DPI, turns the pixels grey or black and white, and builds a new PDF from those pictures. Every app and every printer shows it the same way, because each page is now just an image. The cost is that text is no longer text, so you cannot select, search or copy it. When you pick Pure black & white, this option is called In your browser.

Grayscale keeps every shade between black and white. A red heading becomes dark grey, a light blue box becomes pale grey, and a photo keeps its detail in shades of grey. This is what most people mean when they talk about a PDF to grayscale conversion, and it is the safe choice for reports, slides, brochures and anything with photos or charts.

Pure black & white has only two colors: black and white. There is no grey at all. Every pixel is either ink or paper. That is ideal for text documents, forms, contracts and scans, and it gives the cleanest result on cheap laser printers and fax machines. It is not good for photos, which turn into hard black shapes.

If you are not sure, start with Grayscale. You can always run the file again with Pure black & white if you need a harder, cleaner look.

Some offices, courts and upload portals ask for a file that is strictly black and white. A grayscale file can still have light grey backgrounds, shaded table rows and soft grey text, and a strict check or an old fax line may not like that. To convert PDF to black and white not grayscale, choose Pure black & white in the Colour setting.

You then have two ways to do it. Best (our server) uses Ghostscript to turn every color into black or white for real and compresses the file, and the text usually stays as text. In your browser draws each page as a picture and then decides for every pixel whether it is black or white, using a threshold you can move.

The threshold slider is under More options. It runs from 60 to 230 and starts at 160. A higher number makes more pixels black, which keeps faint pencil marks, light stamps and thin grey text. A lower number makes more pixels white, which cleans away grey backgrounds, shadows from a scanner lid and coffee stains. Check the preview of page 1, convert, and if the result is too dark or too light, move the slider and try again.

The most common reason people come here is printing. A color PDF sent to a color printer uses color ink or toner even for grey text and pale logos, and color cartridges are expensive. When you convert PDF to black and white for printing, the printer only needs black, which costs less per page and often prints faster.

Many printers also have a Print in grayscale box in the print dialog, but it does not always work. Some drivers ignore it for PDFs, some still mix colors to make grey, and school and office printers are often locked to color or charge per color page even when the page looks grey. A file that has no color in it removes that doubt.

For printing, Keep text sharp is usually enough, and it gives the crispest text. If your printer or print shop still shows color pages, use Smaller file, which removes the color from the file itself. For forms you will sign and scan back, Pure black & white gives the cleanest copy.

Some PDFs look grey but still count as color. A page with black text may use a mix of cyan, magenta, yellow and black to make that black, which is called rich black, and a printer or a print shop counts it as a color page. Scanned pages often have a faint yellow or blue tint that you cannot see but the printer can.

If a printer or a print shop says a file is in color when it looks grey to you, convert it with Smaller file. Ghostscript rewrites all colors as true grey, so the file no longer contains any color at all.

Courts, land registries, tax offices, embassies and some universities ask for documents in black and white. The reasons are practical: the files get printed, copied and archived many times, color adds size, and some older systems only store black and white images.

Before you upload, read the rules carefully. If they say grayscale is fine, Grayscale with Smaller file gives a light, readable file. If they say black and white only, or monochrome, or 1-bit, choose Pure black & white with Best (our server). Check the result page by page, especially stamps, signatures and seals, which are often in blue or red ink and can come out too light. If a signature fades, convert again in your browser with a higher threshold.

If the portal also has a size limit, look at the size in the result list. When it is still too large, compress it once more or split it into parts, as many portals allow several files.

Removing color does not make a PDF smaller by itself. It depends on how it is done, and it is worth being clear about this.

Keep text sharp only adds a small layer to each page, so the file stays about the same size, sometimes a few kilobytes bigger. Pages as pictures replaces the text and drawings with images; for a normal text PDF made in Word or a browser, that often makes the file bigger, while for a scanned PDF it can come out similar or smaller. The option that reliably helps is Smaller file (called Best when you pick Pure black & white).

To convert PDF to black and white to reduce file size, choose Smaller file. Ghostscript removes the color data, which takes a third of the space of a color image, and compresses the pictures inside. Pure black & white usually gives the biggest saving, because each pixel needs only one bit. After the conversion, the result list shows the new size and how much smaller it is.

If the file is still too large for an upload form, run it through Compress PDF afterwards. You can also remove pages you do not need with Delete PDF Pages, or split a long file into parts with Split PDF.

A scanned PDF is a set of photos of paper pages, and scanners often save them in full color even when the paper was plain black text. That makes the file large, gives the paper a yellow or blue tint, and wastes ink when you print it again.

To convert scanned PDF to black and white, pick Pure black & white. Best (our server) is the quickest way to a small, clean file. In your browser gives you more control: raise the threshold to keep light handwriting and pencil, or lower it to clear a grey background and the dark edges from the scanner lid. Use 200 or 300 DPI for small print.

For a scan with photos, such as an ID card or a page with pictures, choose Grayscale instead, so faces and details keep their shading. If the scan is sideways, fix it first with Rotate PDF.

Keep text sharp is the way to get a PDF to grayscale without losing quality. Nothing in the page is redrawn or compressed: the text, vector lines and original images stay exactly as they were, and only a grey layer is added on top. You can zoom in as far as you like and the text stays crisp.

Smaller file also keeps text as text in most files, but it does compress the images inside, so photos lose a little detail in exchange for a smaller file. This is usually invisible on screen and on paper.

Pages as pictures depends on the DPI you choose under More options. 100 DPI is light and fine for a quick screen check, 150 DPI is the default and good for reading, 200 DPI is good for small print, and 300 DPI is print quality. Higher DPI looks sharper but makes a bigger file and takes longer.

You do not need an app. On an iPhone or iPad, open this page in Safari, tap Select PDF files and pick the PDF from Files, iCloud Drive, Mail attachments or a chat app. On Android, open it in Chrome and pick the file from Downloads, Google Drive or WhatsApp documents.

Choose the colour and how, then tap the button. When it is done, tap Download PDF and save it to Files or Downloads, or open it and share it from there. Phones have less memory than computers, so for very long or very large files, Smaller file is the most reliable choice, because the heavy work happens on our server instead of on your phone.

There is no software to install. You can convert color PDF to grayscale online from any browser on a computer, tablet or phone. Two of the three ways never send your file anywhere: Keep text sharp and Pages as pictures run inside your browser, on your own device.

Only Smaller file and Best (our server) send the PDF to our server, because they use Ghostscript, which is too heavy to run in a browser. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted, and is deleted when the job is done. The button tells you before you start which way your file will go.

Yes. This is a PDF to grayscale converter free for everyone, with no account, no trial, no watermark and no daily limit. You can convert one file or 20 at a time, as often as you like.

There is no paid version hiding the useful options. Grayscale, pure black and white, the threshold, the DPI choice, page selection and the ZIP download are all free.

By default every page is changed. To change only some pages, choose Some pages and type them, for example 1-3, 7, 10-end. Pages you leave out are copied into the new PDF exactly as they were, still in color. This is handy when only the cover or a few charts need to stay in color, or when only some pages need to go grey.

Some pages works with Keep text sharp and Pages as pictures. Smaller file and Best (our server) always change every page, because Ghostscript rewrites the whole file. If you need only part of a file on the server, pick the pages out first with Split PDF, convert them, and put them back together with Merge PDF.

Add up to 20 PDFs at once, each up to 100 MB. They all use the same settings, and each one gets its own new file. When there is more than one, Download all puts them into a single ZIP. You can also save each file on its own from the result list.

New files are named after the original with -grayscale or -black-and-white added, so they are easy to tell apart from the color version. You can turn this off under More options. The preview on the right shows page 1 of the first file in grey, so you can check the look before you start.

If a PDF has an open password, it shows a password box next to the file name. Type the password and press Unlock. The file is opened on our server only to remove the lock, then deleted, and the color change runs as usual. Without the password the PDF cannot be opened, by this tool or any other.

If you would rather unlock the file first, use Unlock PDF, then add the unlocked file here.

Keep text sharp and Pages as pictures run fully in your browser. Your PDF is not uploaded, so contracts, bank statements, medical records and exam papers stay on your device.

Smaller file and Best (our server) need our server, because they use Ghostscript. The file is sent over an encrypted connection, converted, and deleted when the job is done. It is not kept, shared or looked at. The same is true for the short unlock step for a password-protected PDF. The note under the button always tells you which way your file goes.

When you add a PDF, it is opened in your browser by pdf.js, the same open-source engine Firefox uses to show PDFs, and by pdf-lib, a small library that can edit PDF files. Keep text sharp uses pdf-lib to add a full-page rectangle with the Saturation blend mode to each page you chose. The PDF reader then removes color from everything under that rectangle when it draws the page.

Pages as pictures uses pdf.js to draw each page onto an invisible canvas at the DPI you chose. Every pixel is then turned into grey using the usual brightness formula, or into pure black or white using your threshold. Grey pages are stored as JPG, black and white pages as PNG, and pdf-lib puts them into a new PDF at the original page size.

Smaller file and Best (our server) send the file to our server, where Ghostscript rewrites it with all colors converted and the images compressed. The new file comes back to your browser, and the copy on the server is deleted.

Look at the preview of page 1 before you convert. It shows the grey or black and white look, so you can switch settings first.

Use Grayscale for anything with photos, logos or charts, and Pure black & white for plain text, forms and scans.

For scans in the browser, try 200 DPI with the threshold at 160 first, then nudge it up for faint text or down for grey backgrounds.

If you need both selectable text and a small file, use Smaller file. If you need selectable text and the best quality, use Keep text sharp.

Keep the original color file. Color cannot be brought back from a grey PDF.

Once the PDF is grey, you may want to make it smaller with Compress PDF, join several files into one with Merge PDF, or remove blank pages with Delete PDF Pages. To turn the pages into pictures, use PDF to JPG, or make one tall image with PDF to Long Image.

For reading at night, the opposite tool is also here: Invert PDF Colors turns white pages dark and black text light.