Convert PDFs to grayscale.
Color PDFs turned print-ready grayscale — all in-browser.
Drop PDF files here
or browse your files
Paste with ⌘V · or drop files anywhere on the page
Files never leave your device. Everything runs in your browser, nothing touches a server — tools you've used even work offline.
Convert a color PDF to grayscale entirely in your browser — every image, graphic and text color mapped to clean mono by Ghostscript, locally. Ideal before ink-friendly printing, for consistent handouts, and often smaller files too.
How it works
- Drop files anywhere on the page, click to browse, or paste with ⌘V.
- Pick a quality or preset — or set an exact target size and let the tool find it.
- Compress, compare before/after, and download — individually or as a ZIP.
Why go grayscale
Printing color documents on a mono printer produces muddy, inconsistent grays — converting first gives the printer exactly what it will print. Grayscale images also compress tighter, so colorful decks often shrink along the way; run Compress PDF after for the full squeeze. The conversion re-serializes the document through the same Ghostscript engine the compressor uses.
What converts to what
Grayscale keeps brightness and discards hue — which is fine for most content and a real trap for one kind: colors chosen to differ only in hue. A red line and a green line of equal brightness become the same gray.
If a chart leans on a color legend, check that page in the output — and consider re-labeling the series before converting.
| Content | In grayscale |
|---|---|
| Photographs | Smooth, natural tones — the classic black-and-white look |
| Charts with same-brightness colors | Series can merge into one gray — the case to check |
| Text and vector lines | Recolored, never rasterized — stays perfectly sharp |
| Colored highlights and fills | Light gray shading; contrast against text usually survives |
Frequently asked questions
Does grayscale make the file smaller?
Usually — a grayscale image stores a third of the color data. Decks full of colorful graphics shrink noticeably; text-only documents barely change.
Is the conversion reversible?
No — color information is discarded in the output. Keep your original file; it is never modified.
Will text stay sharp?
Yes — text and vector graphics are recolored, not rasterized. Images are converted pixel-for-pixel without downsampling.
Is it private?
Yes. The document never leaves your browser — nothing is uploaded, and the server only delivers this page. That makes it safe for contracts, invoices, medical records — anything you would not email to a stranger. Want proof? Run one file through, switch your connection off, and run another — it still works.