5 Ways To Convert a PDF To a JPG Image

Before I start telling you about converting PDF to JPG, I know you’re asking yourself: “Why should I need to convert PDF to JPG?” Well here are some of the reasons you might want to actually do it.
First of all, PDF requires an application that will enable you to read the file. (Like Adobe Reader or other similar apps). And it happens sometimes that you are in rush and don’t have Adobe Reader installed on your computer. So… there you go – one reason.
One of the reasons is also that Internet browsers have the built-in capability to display images while handling PDF documents requires an external application or plug-in which may or may not be present. External applications have problems with loading the whole document (which takes time if it is larger size). Plus the rendering of a PDF document happens only after the complete document is downloaded while images can be streamed in.
So, in some specific cases converting your PDF documents to an image format like JPG or JPEG (even if it sounds a bit crazy) could be the solution you are looking for.
So here are some of the ways you can do it.

1. You can convert PDF to JPG with some online converters
This is nice because there are no installations needed, just upload PDF and get JPG – that’s all!
One of the websites that will do this for you is:

Zamzar

This is probably most well-known online file converter that has support for many formats. And it was mentioned in Top Online File Converters which proves that it is worth trying. The whole converting process is simple. You upload the desired file. Then choose which format you want to convert to. Then enter your email adress where you will receive your converted file. (in this case your JPG file).
Minus with the free service is that upload file size is limited to 100 mb and only 5 multiple conversions are possible. Also, if you have some sensitive data to convert, you might feel a bit unsecure uploading that file without encryption support.
If Zamzar didn’t help you, then try using:

YouConvertIt (Beta)

It does pretty same job as Zamzar converting  a PDF file to its JPG equivalent. Also has 5 multiple conversion limits.
As YouConvertIt is still in beta, expect some conversion attempt failures.
2. Offline PDF to JPG converters (convert from desktop)
If you are not so comfortable with online converters, then you can try some of the desktop applications that will do the job.

PDF-Xchange Viewer (Windows)

PDF-Xchange Viewer is a light feature-rich PDF document reader. The free version of the software is a capable document handler with most of the standard features expected. Add comments and annotations, mark-up pages with texts and objects, type within the PDF document along with plug-ins for both IE and Firefox are also included.
But we are particularly interested in PDF to JPG conversion here so here’s how to do it:
Open the PDF file in the viewer, click on File – Export to Image and the dialog opens up where you can set the pages to convert, the image type to convert to and the destination folder. More importantly, the ‘Export Mode’ setting allows you to designate the number of image files for the subject PDF file. The ‘Page Zoom’, ‘Resolution’ and ‘Page Background’ also allow added finishing touches.
Another desktop application for PDF to JPG converting is:

OmniFormat (Windows)

Omni means “All” and this application really does all those conversions in various formats. The free version of this application supports over 75 file formats including HTML, DOC, XLS, WPD, PDF, XML, JPG, GIF, TIF, PNG, PCX, PPT, PS, TXT, Photo CD, FAX and MPEG.
If you want to use this application you will need to Pdf995 (it’s free too).
Pdf995 is a fast and flexible PDF printer driver which makes it easy to publish PDF documents from any program. Pdf995 needs to be installed prior to the installation of OmniFormat.
You can download Pdf995 – PDF printer driver here.

After finishing those annoying things, everything else is simple and easy to use in OmniFormat. You first need to set the output folder for your converted files  (or leave the default folder set by OmniFormat). And with a press of a single “Pass” button, every single page of the chosen PDF document will convert to JPG image and it will be moved to the folder you have chosen.
Note of Caution: OmniFormat deletes the original PDF file in the output folder (the one you have chosen) after conversion… so be sure to make a backup of the files you want to convert.
And the last one is:

Virtual Image Printer Driver (Windows)

This open source application installs as an additional printer on the Printer’s applet and can convert any printable document to a BMP, PNG, JPG, TIFF or a PDF file. The Virtual Image Printer driver is based on the Microsoft universal printer driver core.
Simply, open the PDF file and print it by selecting the Image Printer Driver in the ‘Print’ dialog. The image file format and the compression range can be set in the Image Printer options box.

And if everything else fails…

If you are away from a net connection and in want of the software’, the trusty ‘Print Screen’ button aided with any image handling application like MS Paint or IrfanView can do a stand-in job. I know – I went this way before I came across the other five ways. (there are even more ways of doing this.)
You can download IrfanView here.
Maybe you know some other methods of doing this?
[tags]software, convert pdf to jpg, free applications, apps, review[/tags]
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