Free PDF to Grayscale Converter
This free tool converts every colour in a PDF to shades of gray, so the file prints in black and white tones and uses less ink. Text, pictures and drawings are all converted, and the size before and after is shown. Upload a file up to 20 MB and your PDF is deleted from our server right after.
PDF to Grayscale
PDF Tools
About this tool
Colour printing costs more than black and white, and a colour document printed on a mono printer sometimes shows pale text or confusing tones. Converting to grayscale first lets you see exactly what the printout will look like and prints cleanly on any device.
The tool uses Ghostscript to rewrite the file with a gray colour model. Colour fills, strokes, text and pictures are mapped to their gray equivalents, and pure black text stays black. Pictures stored in colour become gray pictures, which often makes the file smaller, although the amount depends on the content and is not guaranteed. The result shows the size before and after.
Because the file is rewritten, check the result before you rely on it for something important such as a form or a legal document. Colour coded charts can become hard to read when different colours turn into similar grays, so look at them in the preview of your own viewer. Uploads can be up to 20 MB, and password protected files need the Unlock PDF tool first.
Frequently asked questions
Will the grayscale PDF be smaller?
Often, but not always. Gray pictures need less data than colour pictures, so image heavy files tend to shrink. A text only file has little to save. The tool shows the size before and after so you can see the real change.
Does text stay sharp?
Yes. Text and vector shapes are converted to gray values without being turned into pictures, so they stay sharp at any zoom. Black text stays black.
Can charts become unreadable?
They can. Several colours may turn into similar grays, which makes lines or bars hard to tell apart. Check colour coded charts after converting, and consider changing the source chart to use patterns.
Can I get the colour back?
No. The conversion is one way, so keep your original colour file. Run the tool on a copy.
Is my PDF stored?
No. Your file is written to a private temporary folder, processed for the length of the request and deleted straight after, whether the job worked or not. We do not keep copies, build a library of uploads or read the content of your documents.