Articles on: Developer

Convert PDFs to Images via API

Sometimes you don't need the PDF itself, but rather a high-quality image of it. Whether you're generating document previews, creating thumbnails, or displaying pages in a web or mobile application, our PDF to Image endpoint makes the conversion simple.

The endpoint supports both single-page and multi-page PDFs. Each converted page is returned as a separate PNG or JPEG image, making it ideal for preview galleries, document viewers, and image processing workflows.

Convert a PDF to Images

You can provide your PDF in two convenient ways:

As a public URL
As a base64 encoded string

Endpoint Details

HTTP Method: POST
Request URL: https://us1.pdfgeneratorapi.com/api/v4/conversion/pdf2image
Documentation: Official API Docs

Request Body

The example below converts the first four pages of a PDF into PNG images.

{
  "file_url": "https://example.org/document.pdf",
  "format": "png",
  "quality": 85,
  "resolution": 150,
  "pages": "1-4",
  "output": "base64",
  "name": "my-document"
}

Field description

Input fields

file_url – Public URL to the PDF document. Required if file_base64 is not provided.
file_base64 – Base64 encoded PDF. Required if file_url is not provided.

Conversion settings

format – Output image format. Supported values are png, jpg, and jpeg (Default: png).
quality – Image quality from 1–100 (Default: 85). Higher values produce better image quality, while lower values reduce file size.
resolution – Output resolution in DPI from 72–600 (Default: 150). Higher DPI produces sharper images, especially when printing or zooming.
pages – Select which pages to convert. You can specify:
- "all" (default)
- "1" (single page)
- "1-4" (page range)

Output settings

output – Response format:
- base64 – Returns the generated images as base64 strings (default).
- file – Returns downloadable image files.
name – Optional output filename (max 120 characters). Auto-generated if not provided.

Response Example

For multi-page PDFs, the response contains an array with one image for each converted page.

{
  "response": [
    "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAA..."
  ],
  "meta": {
    "name": "document.png",
    "display_name": "document",
    "encoding": "base64",
    "content-type": "image/png"
  }
}

Conversion tips

For the best results, choose the settings that match your use case:

PNG – Best for document previews, text-heavy pages, screenshots, and graphics.
JPEG/JPG – Smaller file sizes, ideal for photographs or when storage and bandwidth are important.
150 DPI – A good balance between quality and performance for most web applications.
300 DPI or higher – Recommended for printing or when users need to zoom into document details.

cURL Example

For a quick test or direct integration, use the following cURL request:

curl --request POST \
  --url https://us1.pdfgeneratorapi.com/api/v4/conversion/pdf2image \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer REPLACE_BEARER_TOKEN' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '{"file_url":"https://example.org/document.pdf","format":"png","quality":85,"resolution":150,"pages":"1-4","output":"base64","name":"my-document"}'

Updated on: 23/07/2026

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!