How to convert XPS to PDF

The XPS files are documents into vector format based on ZIP compression technology and XML-which have the advantage of being able to be displayed on a wide range of devices and systems without change in their content. The XPS format, which stands for XML Paper Specification, was designed by Microsoft to compete with Adobe’s PDF but is now less popular than Adobe’s PDF. That’s why people often prefer to convert XPS to PDF and work on such documents rather than originals.

If you are reading this guide you probably want to follow this path too but it seems more than evident to me that at the moment you do not have absolutely clear ideas on which resources to use to do so. Given the situation, I can not help but suggest you take a few minutes of free time, get comfortable and start concentrating on reading the instructions contained in this article. In fact, below you will find some of the best tools that can be used to convert XPS to PDF.

How do you say? The question interests you but not being very practical in terms of computer science and new technologies are you afraid of not being up to it? But don’t worry! I assure you right now that contrary to appearances and beyond what you may think you will not have to do anything too difficult. So, let’s not waste any more time and immediately find out how to transform XPS files to PDF at no cost on all major platforms. Enjoy the reading!

How to convert XPS to PDF online

Online2PDF

If you need to quickly transform XPS to PDF and you don’t feel like installing new software on your PC, I recommend you rely on Web-based solutions such as Online2PDF that works from any browser and operating system without requiring the presence of special plugins on your computer. It allows you to convert multiple files at the same time and has the ability to process files with a maximum weight of 50MB. If you upload multiple documents at a time, the overall upload limit increases to 100MB.

To test the potential of this service firsthand, connect to its home page using the link I provided you a moment ago and drag the XPS documents to be transformed into PDF in the box at the bottom of the page. If dragging files doesn’t work, no problem. Click the Select files button  and select the documents “manually”.

Finally, make sure that in the drop-down menu Mode:  the Standard Conversion item is selected  and press the Convert button  to start the conversion of the selected XPS files. If, on the other hand, you want to have a new PDF document created for each page of the file, before clicking on the button to start the conversion procedure make sure that the option Create a new PDF file for each page is selected from the menu for choosing of the mode.

The duration of the operation depends on the weight of the documents to be processed and the speed of the Internet connection in use. In any case, at the end of the transformation, the PDF files are automatically downloaded to your computer, in the Downloads folder (if you have not made any changes to the default settings of the web browser you are using).

Zamzar

Another great online service you can try to convert XPS to PDF is  Zamzar . It is a well-known and reliable online converter that allows you to act on various types of files, including those in question, with a maximum total weight of 100 MB per upload. It is extremely simple to use and on top of that it is very comfortable. In short, try it now and you will see that you will not regret having done it.

To convert XPS to PDF with Zamzar, the first step you need to take is to connect to the main page of the service through the link I provided earlier then you need to click the button switch  Choose files …  and you have to select the document in XPS format present on your computer on which you intend to go to act.

Once this is done, set the pdf  option  from the drop-down menu located under the item  Step 2 , type your e-mail address in the field under the item  Step 3  and then click on the Convert button   to start the transformation procedure of the file.

Then wait for the conversion of the file to start and when the operation is completed you will receive an e-mail message at the address specified above with the link to download your exported XPS PDF file inside. Click on the link in the e-mail message and then press the Download now button   located next to the name of the file to download on the Web page that will open in the browser. Even in the case of Zamzar, if you haven’t made any changes to the default settings of your web browser, the converted file will be downloaded to your  computer’s Downloads folder  .

CloudConvert

The Web services that I have already pointed out to you have not been able to attract your attention in a particular way? No? So why don’t you try CloudConvert now  ? This is an excellent all-in-one converter which can also be used directly and comfortably from the browser window thanks to which it is possible to convert practically any file, XPS and PDF included. It’s super easy to use, doesn’t require any plugins to be installed on your computer, and it’s completely free.

The only negative aspects are that the maximum number of files that can be converted every day is 25 (10 if you don’t register by creating a free account), that their weight can be equal to a maximum of 1 GB and that they cannot more than 5 conversions can be performed at the same time. It should also be taken into account that conversions cannot take more than 25 minutes and that if more time is needed, they will be automatically interrupted. All such limitations can eventually be removed by subscribing to a paid plan.

To use CloudConvert, connect to the main page of the service via the link I indicated a few lines above and drag the document to convert into the browser window. Alternatively, click on the Select Files  button  and select the file manually from your computer or click on the down  arrow  next to it and choose the XPS document you want to act on by taking it directly from the Internet (providing the URL) or from one of the supported cloud storage services.

If you have special needs, you can click on the button with the  wrench  next to the name of the document in order to access the section through which you can adjust all the different parameters relating to the movie (e.g. the number of exact pages to convert, the number of DPI, the degree of rotation of the file, etc.). Once the changes are complete, click the Okay button   to apply and confirm everything.

Finally, click on the Start conversion button   located at the bottom right, wait for the conversion of your document to be completed and download it to your computer by clicking on the Download button   that appears next to its name. If you have not made any changes to the default browser settings, the converted file will be saved in the Download folder of your PC / Mac.

How to convert XPS to PDF on Windows

Are the limits in terms of weight of documents imposed by the aforementioned online services tight on you or in any case do you prefer to work locally? Do not worry. If you have a Windows PC, just install a virtual PDF printer and that’s it. By opening the XPS with the viewer integrated into the operating system and printing them in PDF you will get, in fact, a perfect conversion in a very short time. Moreover you will not risk big qualitative losses or bad interpretations of the content of the documents.

The virtual PDF printer I recommend you try is FreePDF and it’s completely free. It is based on the open source GhostScript software, so the first thing you need to do is connect to the FreePDF website and click on the Ghostscript version x.xx link  to download GhostScript on your PC. When the download is complete, open the GhostScript installation package (eg gs907w64.exe ) and complete the setup by clicking in sequence on the Yes , Next , I Agree , Install and Finish buttons .

Next, go back to the FreePDF website and click on any of the links in the Current version column of the Download mirrors table . Then start the FreePDF installation package (eg FreePDF4.14.exe ) and complete the setup by clicking in sequence on Yes , Setup and End .

Perfect. Now you just have to open the XPS file you want to convert to PDF, select the Print item from the File menu of the viewer and choose FreePDF from the list of available printers. In the window that opens, set the quality of the PDF document you want to obtain (I recommend High quality for the highest quality) and presses Save as to choose the folder in which to export the final file.

If you are using Windows 8.x and XPS documents open in Modern mode (i.e. in the Start Screen), right-click on them and choose to open them with the XP Viewer program by selecting the Open with item from the menu that appears.

How to convert XPS to PDF on Mac

On Mac it is possible to use the same technique just seen for Windows systems, that is to use a virtual PDF printer. The difference is that the Microsoft operating system includes the XPS document viewer but not the PDF printer as standard , while Apple’s one offers a PDF printer by default but not the XPS reader.

This means that to transform XPS to PDF on macOS / OS X you must first get an ad hoc software to open the files in the format in question, such as XPS-Reader which costs 3.49 euros but can be downloaded for free to test. operation by displaying half of the pages that make up each document. You can find it directly from the Mac App Store using the link I just provided, by clicking on the View button in the Mac App Store and then on the Get / Install button (you may be asked to type the password for your Apple account).

When the download is complete, open the file to be transformed into PDF with XPS-Reader, then call the Print item from the File menu and select the Save as PDF option from the PDF drop-down menu located at the bottom left. Finally, choose the folder in which to export the converted document and that’s it.