Screenshotting a PDF to get a photo loses quality: you capture it at screen resolution, surrounded by page content. The images inside a PDF are usually stored as separate objects, often at a higher resolution than they're displayed. Extract Images pulls those embedded images out in their original format, so you get the actual photo or graphic that was placed in the document.
How to use Extract Images
- Add the PDF.
- Select Extract Images.
- Download the ZIP of extracted images.
- Open the images, which are numbered in the order they were found.
Original images, not page renders
- Saved in their stored format: VelloDoc reads the image objects stored in the PDF and saves each one in the format it was stored in, commonly JPG or PNG, without re-encoding it.
- Reused images saved once: An image reused on several pages, like a logo in every header, is saved once.
- Stored resolution is kept: Each image keeps its stored resolution, which may be larger than it looked on the page, because PDFs often scale images down for display.
What won't be extracted
- Vector artwork isn't an image: Only raster images stored as separate objects are extracted. Charts, logos and illustrations drawn as vector shapes aren't images, so they won't appear; PDF to PNG captures them as part of a page render instead.
- Inline images: A few PDFs store small images directly inside the page content, and those are skipped.
- Transparency is stored in PDFs as a separate mask, so images with transparent backgrounds may come out on a solid background.
- If nothing is found: If no images are found, the tool says so.
Scans and privacy
- Scanned pages: In a scanned document each page is usually one full-page image, so extraction returns the scans themselves at their original resolution.
- Images can carry more than you expect: Images can also carry more than you expect: a photo that appears cropped on the page is often stored uncropped, and some images keep their own camera metadata.
- Check before sharing, and see the PDF privacy guide for what else documents can reveal.
- To clear properties: To clear document properties, use Remove Metadata.
When people use Extract Images
Recovering photos from a brochure
Get the original product or event photos back out of a finished brochure when the source files are lost.
Getting the original scans
Retrieve untouched scan images from a scanned PDF for editing or re-processing.
Reusing report graphics
Pull embedded photos and screenshots from a report to reuse in a presentation, with permission.
Limitations to know
Extract Images saves stored raster images only, so vector graphics and images placed inline in page content aren't included, and transparency masks aren't applied. An image used on many pages is saved once, and file names follow the order images were found instead of any caption.
Extract Images: common questions
Why are some graphics missing?
They're probably drawn as vector shapes instead of stored as images. Render the page with PDF to PNG to capture them.
Is the image quality the same as in the PDF?
It's the same or better than it appears on the page. Images are saved in their stored format and resolution, without recompression.
Why does a transparent logo have a solid background?
PDFs store transparency as a separate mask, and the extracted file is the base image without that mask. Use PDF to PNG if you need the image as it looks on the page.
Why did the tool say no images were found?
The PDF has no embedded raster images, for example because it's a text document that uses only vector graphics.