How to Convert PDF to JPG on Mac

To turn PDF to JPG on Mac:

1. Right-click your PDF file and select Open With > Preview.  
2. Select File > Export.
3. Choose a location for your saved file.
4. Use the Format dropdown menu to choose JPEG.
5. Give your file a name.
6. Click Save.

Why you might need to convert PDF to JPG on Mac

You may want to change PDF to JPG on your Mac so you can save a single page from a PDF document. JPGs can also be shared on social media or inserted into presentations, but PDFs can’t.

If you want to extract the text from your PDF, read our guide on how to convert PDF to Word on Mac.  

A note from our experts: 

 

When you’re converting PDFs to JPG files on your Mac, make sure you aren’t creating any duplicates. That’s easy to do with MacKeeper’s Duplicates Finder. In just a few clicks, you can track down unneeded copies of files and remove them.  

 

Here’s how:

1. Download MacKeeper, run it, then select Duplicates Finder.  
2. Click Start Scan.  
3. When the scan is finished, select what to delete, and click Remove Selected.  
4. Click Remove to confirm.

Duplicates Finder can also locate photos that are similar but not identical, helping you save even more space on your Apple machine. 

Methods to change PDF to JPG on Mac  

There are several different ways we can make PDF JPG on a Mac, but they essentially break down into three types:

1. Built-in macOS tools like Preview and Automator.  
2. Online conversion apps, which let you upload your PDF files.
3. Third-party software, including Adobe Acrobat and free tools.

1. Convert PDF to JPG on Mac using Preview  

Your Mac’s built-in Preview app gives us a quick and easy way to change PDF to JPG. Just do as follows:

1. Open your PDF with the Preview app.
2. Choose a page and select File > Export from the menu bar.  
3. Add a name next to Export As.
4. Use the Where dropdown menu to choose a location.  
5. Select JPEG in the Format dropdown.
6. Choose Quality and Resolution settings.  
7. Click Save.  

If you only want to save space on your Mac, you can just compress them rather than converting PDFs to JPG. Read our guide on how to compress PDF on Mac to see how it’s done.  

2. Transfer PDF to JPG on Mac using online conversion tools

There are many online PDF-to-JPG tools. For this article, we’re using Adobe’s web-based converter:

1. Visit the Adobe conversion tool.
2. Drag and drop your PDF file into the window.
3. Make sure JPG is selected in the Convert to dropdown.  
4. Click Convert to JPG.
5. When your file is ready, click Download.

A tip from our team: 

 

Third-party tools are also good if you want to edit a PDF on Mac. Although we can make some basic edits with Preview, apps like Adobe Acrobat and PDF Editor are much more powerful.

3. Turn PDF to JPG on Mac using third-party software  

We’re going to use the PDFgear tool for this example. Just do as follows:

1. Download PDFgear from the Mac App Store.  
2. Run the app, and select Convert from PDF > PDF to JPEG.
3. Click Add Files, and add your PDF.  
4. Choose a location using the Output Path dropdown.
5. Click Convert.  

How to convert PDF to JPG on Mac without losing quality

JPG is a lossy file format, so quality is sacrificed to reduce the overall file size. You can limit the amount of compression to limit this loss of quality. If you’re using Preview, set the Quality to Best and the Resolution to at least 300 pixels per inch.  

Another way to maintain the quality of your PDF document is to choose a different file format, other than JPG. The Preview tool, for example, can also convert PDFs to other formats, including TIFF, HEIC, and PNG, which can offer better quality images than JPG. For the best compatibility with social media and messaging apps, we suggest PNG. Check out our guide on how to change PNG to JPG for more information.

Note, however, that higher-quality images will generally give you a larger file size. If you’re trying to save space on your Mac or MacBook, JPG may be the best option.

How to convert multiple PDFs to JPG on Mac

The macOS Preview tool doesn’t do batch conversions, but Apple has another free tool that will do that trick—Automator. In just a few steps, you can create your own tool to convert multiple PDFs to JPG:

1. Find the Automator tool in your Applications folder, and run it.  
2. Select Application and click Choose.  
3. From the side list, drag and drop Render PDF Pages as Images into the window on the right.
4. Set the format to JPEG image, and choose your quality settings.  
5. Drag in Move Finder Items, and use the dropdown to select a location for your converted files.  
6. Click at the top to give your new application a name and choose where it will be saved. Press Cmd+S to save.
7. Drag and drop your PDF files onto your new application, and it will convert them to JPG.  

Choosing the best method for you

As you’ve seen, there are multiple methods and tools to turn PDFs into JPGs on a Mac. Although the Preview tool comes free with macOS and OS X, it offers a quick and easy way to convert PDF files, letting you set the quality of your JPG output files. If you only need to convert one or two PDFs, we’d say Preview is a great option. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer any kind of batch conversion features. For that, we recommend using a third-party app or the Apple Automator tool.  

However you choose to convert your PDF files to JPG, you should make sure you’re not also dealing with duplicate files. This is particularly important if you’re batch-converting documents and pages to JPG, where you’re handling lots of files. Thankfully, you can easily find and remove unnecessary copies of files using MacKeeper’s Duplicates Finder tool, automating the process and saving precious time.