How to Convert Images to PDF: JPG, PNG, and More to PDF

From Pixels to Pages

Converting images to PDF is one of the most versatile file operations you will encounter. The use cases range from simple (turning a single photo into a shareable document) to complex (combining hundreds of scanned pages into a searchable, OCR-enabled PDF with bookmarks and a table of contents).

Whether you are digitizing paper documents, creating photo portfolios, assembling image-based reports, or preparing files for legal or government submission, this guide covers every approach from basic online tools to advanced command-line automation.

Single Image to PDF

The simplest case: you have one image file and need it as a PDF.

Method 1: ConvertIntoMP4 Online

1. Go to the PDF converter on ConvertIntoMP4
2. Upload your JPG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, or BMP file
3. Click Convert
4. Download the PDF

The converter automatically sizes the PDF page to match the image dimensions, ensuring no cropping or distortion.

Method 2: macOS Preview

1. Open the image in Preview
2. Click File > Export as PDF
3. Choose your save location

Method 3: Windows Print to PDF

1. Right-click the image file
2. Select Print
3. Choose Microsoft Print to PDF as the printer
4. Adjust sizing options (Fit, Fill, or actual size)
5. Click Print and choose a save location

Method 4: Chrome Browser

1. Open the image in Chrome (drag it into the browser window)
2. Press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P)
3. Set Destination to Save as PDF
4. Click Save

Multiple Images to PDF

Combining multiple images into a single multi-page PDF is more common than single-image conversion. This is essential for:

• Scanned documents (one image per page)
• Photo portfolios and lookbooks
• Image-based reports
• Receipt and invoice archives
• Legal document packages

Method 1: ConvertIntoMP4 Online

The image converter on ConvertIntoMP4 supports multi-image PDF creation:

1. Upload multiple images at once (drag and drop works)
2. Reorder images by dragging them into the desired sequence
3. Select PDF as the output format
4. Click Convert

Method 2: macOS Preview

1. Open the first image in Preview
2. Show the sidebar (View > Thumbnails)
3. Drag additional images into the sidebar to add pages
4. Reorder by dragging thumbnails
5. Click File > Export as PDF

Method 3: ImageMagick

# Combine multiple images into one PDF
magick img1.jpg img2.jpg img3.jpg output.pdf

# Combine all JPGs in a directory (sorted by name)
magick *.jpg combined.pdf

# Combine with specific page size (Letter)
magick *.jpg -page Letter combined.pdf

# Combine with specific page size and image fitting
magick *.jpg -resize 2550x3300 -gravity center -extent 2550x3300 combined.pdf

Method 4: Python with Pillow

from PIL import Image
import os

def images_to_pdf(image_paths, output_pdf):
    images = []
    for path in image_paths:
        img = Image.open(path)
        if img.mode == 'RGBA':
            # Convert RGBA to RGB (PDF doesn't support transparency)
            background = Image.new('RGB', img.size, (255, 255, 255))
            background.paste(img, mask=img.split()[3])
            images.append(background)
        else:
            images.append(img.convert('RGB'))

    if images:
        images[0].save(
            output_pdf,
            save_all=True,
            append_images=images[1:],
            resolution=150
        )
        print(f"Created {output_pdf} with {len(images)} pages")

# Usage
image_files = ['scan_001.jpg', 'scan_002.jpg', 'scan_003.jpg']
images_to_pdf(image_files, 'document.pdf')

Method 5: Python with img2pdf (Lossless)

The img2pdf library is special because it embeds JPEG images directly into the PDF without re-encoding them. This means zero quality loss and faster processing.

pip install img2pdf

import img2pdf

# Simple conversion
with open("output.pdf", "wb") as f:
    f.write(img2pdf.convert(["page1.jpg", "page2.jpg", "page3.jpg"]))

# With specific page size (A4)
a4_layout = img2pdf.get_layout_fun(
    pagesize=(img2pdf.mm_to_pt(210), img2pdf.mm_to_pt(297))
)
with open("output.pdf", "wb") as f:
    f.write(img2pdf.convert(
        ["page1.jpg", "page2.jpg"],
        layout_fun=a4_layout
    ))

Page Sizing Options

How the image maps to the PDF page is one of the most important decisions in the conversion. There are several approaches:

Page Fits Image (Default)

The PDF page is sized to match the image dimensions exactly. A 3000x2000 pixel image at 300 DPI produces a 10x6.67 inch page.

This is ideal for photographs and artwork where you want the entire image visible without any margins or cropping.

Image Fits Standard Page

The image is scaled to fit a standard page size (Letter, A4, Legal, etc.) with optional margins.

Image-to-Page Mapping Options

# ImageMagick: fit image to A4 page with margins
magick input.jpg -resize 2380x3368 -gravity center \
  -extent 2480x3508 -units PixelsPerInch -density 300 output.pdf

Adding an OCR Text Layer

Scanned documents stored as images are not searchable -- you cannot select text, copy it, or find specific words. Adding an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) layer to your PDF makes the text selectable and searchable while keeping the original image as the visual layer.

Using Tesseract

# Install Tesseract
brew install tesseract  # macOS
sudo apt install tesseract-ocr  # Ubuntu/Debian

# Convert image to searchable PDF
tesseract scan.jpg output pdf

# Multiple languages
tesseract scan.jpg output -l eng+fra pdf

# Multiple images to searchable PDF
for img in scan_*.jpg; do
  tesseract "$img" "${img%.jpg}" pdf
done

Using OCRmyPDF

ocrmypdf is a specialized tool that adds OCR layers to existing PDFs. First convert images to PDF, then apply OCR:

pip install ocrmypdf

# Convert images to PDF first
magick scan_*.jpg document.pdf

# Add OCR layer
ocrmypdf document.pdf document_searchable.pdf

# With specific language and optimization
ocrmypdf -l eng --optimize 2 document.pdf document_searchable.pdf

OCR Quality Tips

For a comprehensive guide on OCR workflows, see our article on how to OCR scanned documents.

Compression and Quality Settings

Image-to-PDF conversion offers several opportunities to control the balance between quality and file size.

JPEG Quality in PDF

When embedding JPEG images in PDF, you can control the compression level:

from PIL import Image

img = Image.open('photo.jpg')
img.save('output.pdf', 'PDF', resolution=150, quality=80)

Quality vs File Size Trade-offs

When to Use Lossless vs Lossy

• Scanned text documents -- Use high-quality JPEG (85-95%) or PNG. Text must remain readable.
• Photographs -- JPEG 70-80% is usually sufficient
• Line art, diagrams, signatures -- Use PNG or high-quality JPEG. Lossy compression creates artifacts around sharp edges.
• Mixed content -- Default to higher quality (JPEG 85%+) to accommodate both text and images

After creating your PDF, you can further optimize it using ConvertIntoMP4's PDF compressor. Our guide on how to reduce PDF file size provides additional strategies.

Common Conversion Scenarios

Scanned Documents

The most common image-to-PDF workflow. Typically involves multi-page documents scanned as individual image files.

Recommended pipeline:

1. Scan at 300 DPI in color or grayscale
2. Save as TIFF or PNG (lossless for archival) or JPEG at 90%+ quality
3. Apply deskew correction if pages are rotated
4. Combine into a single PDF using img2pdf (lossless JPEG embedding)
5. Add OCR layer with ocrmypdf
6. Optimize file size

# Complete pipeline
img2pdf scan_*.jpg -o document.pdf
ocrmypdf --optimize 2 -l eng document.pdf document_final.pdf

Photo Portfolio

Creating a PDF portfolio from a collection of photographs.

Recommended pipeline:

1. Resize images to a consistent dimension (e.g., 3000px on the longest side)
2. Apply color correction and ordering
3. Combine with specific page layout (full-bleed or with margins)
4. Add page numbers and optional captions

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont

def create_portfolio(image_paths, output_pdf, page_width=3000, page_height=4000):
    pages = []
    for path in image_paths:
        # Create white page
        page = Image.new('RGB', (page_width, page_height), (255, 255, 255))
        img = Image.open(path)

        # Resize image to fit with margins
        margin = 200
        max_w = page_width - 2 * margin
        max_h = page_height - 2 * margin - 200  # Extra space for caption
        img.thumbnail((max_w, max_h), Image.LANCZOS)

        # Center image on page
        x = (page_width - img.width) // 2
        y = (page_height - img.height) // 2 - 100
        page.paste(img, (x, y))

        pages.append(page)

    pages[0].save(output_pdf, save_all=True, append_images=pages[1:], resolution=300)

Receipt and Invoice Archive

Organizing receipts and invoices as a searchable PDF archive.

1. Photograph or scan each receipt
2. Combine by date or category
3. Add OCR for searchability
4. Compress for efficient storage

Converting Screenshots to PDF

Screenshots are typically PNG files. When converting to PDF:

• PNG screenshots embed without quality loss
• Keep the original resolution for readability
• Use page-fits-image sizing so text remains sharp

Handling Different Image Formats

Not all image formats convert to PDF equally well. Here are format-specific considerations:

For HEIC conversion (common with iPhone photos), see our guide on how to convert HEIC to JPG.

Advanced: Batch Image-to-PDF Conversion

Directory Structure to PDF

Convert an entire directory structure where each folder becomes a separate PDF:

import img2pdf
import os

def directory_to_pdfs(base_dir, output_dir):
    os.makedirs(output_dir, exist_ok=True)

    for folder_name in sorted(os.listdir(base_dir)):
        folder_path = os.path.join(base_dir, folder_name)
        if not os.path.isdir(folder_path):
            continue

        image_files = sorted([
            os.path.join(folder_path, f)
            for f in os.listdir(folder_path)
            if f.lower().endswith(('.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.tiff'))
        ])

        if not image_files:
            continue

        pdf_path = os.path.join(output_dir, f"{folder_name}.pdf")
        with open(pdf_path, "wb") as f:
            f.write(img2pdf.convert(image_files))

        print(f"Created {pdf_path} ({len(image_files)} pages)")

directory_to_pdfs("./scanned_documents", "./pdfs")

Watch Folder Automation

Set up a folder that automatically converts new images to PDF:

import time
import os
import img2pdf

def watch_and_convert(watch_dir, output_dir, interval=5):
    os.makedirs(output_dir, exist_ok=True)
    processed = set()

    print(f"Watching {watch_dir} for new images...")

    while True:
        current_files = set(
            f for f in os.listdir(watch_dir)
            if f.lower().endswith(('.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png'))
        )
        new_files = current_files - processed

        for filename in sorted(new_files):
            input_path = os.path.join(watch_dir, filename)
            pdf_name = os.path.splitext(filename)[0] + '.pdf'
            pdf_path = os.path.join(output_dir, pdf_name)

            with open(pdf_path, "wb") as f:
                f.write(img2pdf.convert([input_path]))

            print(f"Converted: {filename} -> {pdf_name}")
            processed.add(filename)

        time.sleep(interval)

watch_and_convert("./inbox", "./pdfs")

For more batch processing strategies, see our batch processing guide.

Merging and Splitting Image PDFs

After creating image PDFs, you often need to combine or reorganize them.

Merge Multiple PDFs

Combine several image PDFs into one document:

# Using pdfunite (poppler-utils)
pdfunite doc1.pdf doc2.pdf doc3.pdf merged.pdf

# Using Python (PyPDF2)
from PyPDF2 import PdfMerger
merger = PdfMerger()
merger.append("doc1.pdf")
merger.append("doc2.pdf")
merger.write("merged.pdf")
merger.close()

ConvertIntoMP4's merge PDF tool handles this in the browser with drag-and-drop page reordering.

Split a Large PDF

Extract specific pages from a multi-image PDF:

# Extract pages 5-10
pdftk input.pdf cat 5-10 output pages_5_to_10.pdf

See our guide on how to merge and split PDFs for complete details.

Troubleshooting

Image Appears Cropped in PDF

Cause: Page size is smaller than the image, or margins are cutting into the image. Fix: Use page-fits-image sizing or increase the page size.

PDF Is Extremely Large

Cause: Uncompressed images (PNG, BMP) or very high resolution. Fix: Convert source images to JPEG at 80% quality before creating the PDF, or use the PDF compressor.

Text in Scanned Images Is Not Selectable

Cause: No OCR layer was added. Fix: Run ocrmypdf on the PDF to add a searchable text layer.

Colors Look Different in PDF

Cause: Color profile mismatch between the image and PDF viewer. Fix: Embed the sRGB color profile in the images before conversion.

Images Appear Rotated

Cause: EXIF orientation metadata is not being honored. Fix: Auto-rotate images based on EXIF data before conversion:

magick mogrify -auto-orient *.jpg

Wrapping Up

Converting images to PDF is a fundamental operation with applications across personal organization, business documentation, legal archival, and creative portfolios. Start with ConvertIntoMP4's PDF converter for quick single or multi-image conversions, use img2pdf for lossless JPEG embedding in automated pipelines, and add OCR with ocrmypdf when you need searchable text.

The key decisions are page sizing (image-fits-page vs page-fits-image), compression quality, and whether to add an OCR layer. Get those right, and your image PDFs will be professional, efficient, and universally readable.

For related workflows, explore our guides on how to merge and split PDFs, how to reduce PDF file size, and how to OCR scanned documents.