If you have a PDF file full of images, you may want to have those images converted to JPG files or PNG files. This would, for example, make it easier to get those images printed, or altered by an image editing program.

If you Google this issue, you will find many options, quite a lot of which are paid. We have previously seen some tools which can convert a PDF to JPG and a Windows tool to extract PDF images as well. However, I have managed to find four free online options and one free software option. You're welcome!

ExtractPDF

ExtractPDF is a very zippy option which takes your PDF file and breaks it up into its individual sections -- the images, the text, the fonts, and the metadata. All of this information can be downloaded. Just take what you need and leave the rest.

Konwerter

The design of the Konwerter site could use a serious updating, but don't let that stop you. It still works a treat. Just upload your file, choose an image format (JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG), then press the extract button.

When it has extracted the images, you will be presented with a Zip file to download.

SmallPDF

This one both impressed me and irritated me in equal measure. Impressed me, because of its speed, and irritated me because it kept asking for donations under the guise of "send us a coffee". I have no objection against donations but constantly asking gets rather annoying after a while.

When you upload your file to this one, you can either extract individual images, or have the entire page converted. As I said, fast and reliable. Just don't push your caffeine addiction on us so much please.

PDF-Online

This one was also fast, and the image quality good. But the drawback is that it only shows you four images. If you want to see the rest, you have to sign up for an account and log in. Which is a bit of a dirty trick if you ask me. I suppose you could use temporary email addresses, but still...

After uploading your file, choose from text, images, annotations, and bookmarks.

PDFMate

Now we come to the software option, which is for Windows only, unfortunately. But this is a great piece of software to have on your computer. It does its job well, and does it fast.

Simply upload your file, choose which format you want it converted to (IMAGE in this case), then press the big yellow button. In the output folder that you specified, you will find top quality images from the PDF file you uploaded.

Despite my normal hesitation about installing any kind of software, in this case I think software is the best way to go. With online converters, there is the issue of privacy if you want a sensitive file converted. But with software installed on your computer, the only person who can see your file is you.

Do you have any experience with extracting images from PDF files? If so, which sites and programs do you normally use? Let us know in the comments below.

Image Credit: Extraction of a nail (Shutterstock)