How to extract images from PDF

Hey, why are you so sweaty? Have you just participated in a marathon? How do you say? Have you never moved from your room but, after a thousand unsuccessful attempts, are you exhausted because you have not yet managed to extract the images you need to complete your school research from that PDF document downloaded yesterday from the Internet? Let me tell you, once again you got lost in a glass of water.

You may not know, but there are programs that allow you to do this in a few clicks and without spending a dime. Yes, you read that right! By installing free software on your PC, you can extract images from PDF and save them as normal images in JPG, PNG or BMP format. Warning: I am not talking about converting PDF pages into images, but about the actual extraction of the images present in them, therefore without white borders, writings or other disturbing elements.

Come on, don’t stand there! If you want to find out how to extract images from PDFs using your PC or your Mac, take a few minutes of free time, download the applications I’m about to recommend and take advantage of their features by following the instructions below. I bet you will be amazed by the simplicity with which you will be able to do everything!

Index

• PkPdfConverter (Windows)
• Nitro Reader (Windows)
• PDF Image Extraction Wizard (Windows)
• PDF Toolkit + (macOS)
• SmallPDF (Online)

PkPdfConverter (Windows)

PkPdfConverter is a free and open source program that allows you to convert PDF files into text, HTML pages or images and to extract both the text and the photos present in them. It is extremely intuitive even for novice users and does not require any installation to be used.

To download PkPdfConverter on your PC, connect to the SourceForge page that hosts it and click on the item PkPDFConverter-1.0.1a.zip . When the download is complete, open the zip file you downloaded on your PC, extract the contents to a folder of your choice and start the PkPdfConverter.exe executable .

In the window that opens, click on the yellow folder icon located next to the PDF file to convert item (in the left sidebar) and select the PDF from which you want to extract the images, set the PDF -> Images option ( extract all images) from the drop-down menu Choose the type of conversion (always in the left sidebar) and click on the Convert button ! to start the image extraction process.

By default, PkPdfConverter saves images extracted from PDFs in the same folder as the source documents. To change destination, click on the yellow folder located next to the Save in field (always in the left sidebar).

Nitro Reader (Windows)

If PkPdfConverter failed to meet your expectations, try Nitro Reader : it is a free PDF viewer, available only for Windows, which includes many tools for editing PDF files. Among its many functions, there is also the one to extract the images contained in the documents.

To download Nitro Reader on your PC, connected to the official website of the program, type your name , surname and email address in the appropriate text fields (you can also use dummy data if you want) and click on the Download Nitro’s Free PDF Reader button . Subsequently, open the file you just downloaded on your PC ( nitro_reader5_64.exe ), accept the conditions of use of the program by placing the check mark next to I accept the terms in the License Agreement and complete the setup by first clicking on Install and then on Yes and Finish.

Once the installation is complete, you just have to start Nitro Reader through its icon that appears on the Windows desktop, open the PDF from which you want to extract the images (through the menu File> Open> Computer> Browse ) and click on the Extract images button that you located at the top.

In the window that appears on the screen, expand the Folders drop-down menu to choose whether to save the images extracted from the PDF in the same folder as the source document ( Folder of original file ) or in a different folder ( Specific folder ) and click on the Extract button to start saving images.

At the end of the procedure, a File Explorer window will open automatically with the list of all the images that Nitro Reader was able to extract from the PDF.

PDF Image Extraction Wizard (Windows)

If the solutions mentioned above did not fully satisfy you, you can try PDF Image Extraction Wizard : a program for Windows exclusively dedicated to extracting images from PDF files. You can download it for free, but in its free version it allows you to extract a maximum of three images at a time. To remove this limit, you need to purchase the full version of the software for $ 14.95.

The first step you need to take to download the free version of PDF Image Extraction Wizard is to connect to  the program’s official website  and click on the yellow Download button  , located in the center of the page. Once the download is complete, double-click on it to open the file you just downloaded ( PdfImageExtractionWizard_Setup.exe ) and, in the window that opens, click first on the Yes button and then on  Next .

Then accept the conditions of use of the program, putting the check mark next to the item  I accept the agreement , and click first on  Next  for four consecutive times and then on  Install  and  Finish , to end the installation process and start  PDF Image Extraction Wizard.

In the window that opens, click first on  Next  and then on the icon depicting a yellow folder located under the heading  PDF File , to select the PDF file from which you want to extract the images. Then click on the button with the folder icon located under the Output Folder item  , to select the folder in which you want to save the images extracted from the PDF file, type the name you want to assign to them in the  Base name for images field , and click on  Next , to continue with the wizard.

At this point, taking into account the fact that this free version of  PDF Image Extraction Wizard  can extract up to three images per page, type the number of pages of the PDF file from which you intend to extract the images in the  First  (home page) and  Last  ( final page). If you intend to extract images from a single page, type the same number in both fields.

If the document from which you are extracting the images is password protected, type the keyword necessary to unlock it in the User password  or  Master password fields  and click on  Next  three consecutive times and then on  Start  and  Finish , to extract the images from the document.

You can also choose to extract the images based on their size, placing the check mark next to  Only extract small images  (to extract only small images) or  Only extract large images  (to extract only large images) during the procedure Wizard  PDF Image Extraction Wizard.

PDF Toolkit + (macOS)

If you are using a Mac, you can extract images from PDFs using PDF Toolkit + . It is an all-rounder application for PDF files that allows you to optimize them, merge them, divide them and extract both text and images from them. Unfortunately it is not free, it costs € 2.29, but I can assure you that it is worth every penny of its price.

To buy PDF Toolkit +, open the Mac App Store , search for the program within the latter and click first on the button with the price and then on Buy App . You may be asked to authenticate by typing your Apple ID password. If you are reading this tutorial directly from macOS, you can open the Mac App Store page dedicated to PDF Toolkit + by clicking on the link I gave you earlier (on the program name) and then pressing the View button in the Mac App Store .

Once the purchase has been made, PDF Toolkit + will be downloaded and installed automatically on your Mac. At the end of the procedure, start the application by clicking on its icon in the Launchpad, select the Text / Images tab and drag the document from which you want to extract the images into the drop the PDF field in the box below.

After this step too, press the Extract button ! located under the heading Extract images (on the right), select the folder in which to save the images and click on the Save button to start copying the files.

The images extracted from the PDF will be saved in a folder within the path you indicated to PDF Toolkit +.

SmallPDF (Online)

If you want to extract images from PDF but don’t want to install new programs on your PC, you can rely on online services that allow you to do everything from the browser. Among these I point out SmallPDF , which can be used free for 14 days, upon registration of an account, after which it costs 10 euros / month or 90 euros / year.

To extract images from a PDF document using SmallPDF, connect to the page of the service dedicated to converting PDF to JPG and drag the file from which you want to extract the images into the browser window. Then click on the Extract single images button located on the right, then go to Choose an option and, on the page that opens, click the Download as zip button to download a zip archive containing all the images extracted from the PDF.

Alternatively, if you prefer, you can click on the thumbnails at the bottom and download the images individually or click on the Dropbox and Google Drive icons to save the images to your cloud accounts.