Convert a PDF to black and white
Turn a colour PDF into grayscale, or into pure black and white for scans of printed text. A live preview shows exactly how page 1 will look before you convert.
- 1Add your file
- 2Make it yours
- 3Download & done
Let’s start with your file.
Drop your PDF here. We’ll take it from there.
PDF documents·Or drag and drop a file
Choose a different fileYour files stay on this device. Always.
How to convert a PDF to black and white
- Choose a PDF. A before-and-after preview of page 1 appears.
- Pick grayscale or black and white, and adjust the threshold until the text looks clean.
- Press Convert PDF and download.
Good to know
Grayscale keeps every shade, so photos and charts stay recognisable. Black and white turns each pixel fully black or fully white. It removes yellowed paper, shadows and pale stains from scans, and the result is stored as a 1-bit image that is often a fraction of the size of a colour scan, with crisp letter edges.
Pages are redrawn as images at the resolution you choose, which is how the colour is removed reliably. That means the text can no longer be selected or searched. 200 dpi suits reading and home printing; choose 300 dpi for small print or professional printing.
Why convert to black and white?
- Upload forms and size limits. Scans of certificates and forms often have to be under 100–200 KB. Black and white gets there with sharp text, where colour can’t.
- Printing. Printing a colour PDF on a mono laser printer can turn coloured text pale grey. Converting first gives you control over how it comes out, and saves colour ink on inkjets.
- Cleaner scans. Phone scans of paper often look grey or yellow. The threshold slider turns the background pure white.
- Faxing and archiving. Fax and many archive systems are black and white anyway; converting first shows you exactly what the recipient will see.
Choosing a threshold
The threshold decides how dark a pixel must be to become black. If letters look broken or thin, slide it right. If the page background turns speckled or grey areas become black blobs, slide it left. Signatures in blue ink usually survive at the default; light pencil needs a higher setting.
Questions
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. PDF1 runs the whole job inside your browser tab with JavaScript and WebAssembly. The page has no upload endpoint, and its security policy blocks connections to other servers, so the file stays on your device. You can even disconnect from the internet once the page has loaded.
Can I keep the text selectable?
Not with this tool, because removing colour from every kind of PDF content reliably means redrawing the page. If you need searchable text and grayscale, print the PDF to a “Save as PDF” printer with the black-and-white option instead.
Does black and white make the file smaller?
For scans and text pages, usually much smaller. For pages full of photos, grayscale is the better choice, because pure black and white turns photos into harsh shapes.
Is grayscale the same as black and white?
People often use the words for the same thing. Here, grayscale keeps shades of grey and black and white uses only black and white.