How to extract images from a PDF file on Windows 10
A PDF file can hold both text and images. In fact, the format is preferred for online publishing precisely because it will maintain whatever layout the image and text are set in. With other document types, the layout doesn’t always stick. Fonts alone don’t look the same which is why PDF is the format used for online publishing.
It isn’t uncommon for PDFs to be image-heavy; in fact, lots of brochures and reports will use HD images. The images can’t always be copied from the file and if there are lots of images, you will find that extracting them is a terrible tedious process.
Extract images from PDF
In most cases, you can manually save images from a PDF one-by-one. Where an image cannot be saved, you can always just take a screenshot of it. That said, assuming you have a PDF file that has far too many images to save one-by-one, you an save them all in one go with an app called PDF Image Extractor.
- Download and run PDF Image Extractor (there is both an installable and portable version).
- Click Add files.
- Select the PDF file (or files) you want to extract images from.
- Click Extract images.
- Extraction can take time but once it’s complete, you will find a new folder in the same location as the original PDF file.
- Open the folder and all images that were extracted will be in it.
Limitations
The images that are extracted may not be in the best quality. They’re not going to pixelated messes but you may not be able to get the high definition image as it is from a brochure.
You may end up with an image dump because the app finds images that you may not consider when using it. For example, if the document has nice looking bullet points, the app may treat them as images and extract them too.
The app cannot extract images from a PDF if it is password protected. If you have the password for the file, you should save a password-free copy of it and then use the app to extract images from the copy. You should make sure you delete the un-protected file.
Conclusion
A PDF file can be a source of high-quality images that you may not be able to find anywhere else however, always be mindful that you are not using copyright-protected images. Extracting them isn’t a crime but how you use them may be illegal.
