Turning a mix of picture formats into one PDF
Pictures arrive in whatever format the camera, the phone or the website chose, and a folder of them is rarely all one kind. This tool takes the mix as it is, so nothing has to be converted first. What is worth knowing is what happens to each format on the way in, and the one format whose fate depends on the browser you are using.
Updated
Which tool you need
A folder of pictures in several formats
Image to PDF. Add them all at once, arrange them in one list, and each becomes a page of the same PDF.
iPhone photos saved as HEIC
Image to PDF on the iPhone or iPad in any browser, or in Safari on a Mac, because those read HEIC themselves. Elsewhere, save them as JPG first, for example from the Photos app on the iPhone.
Nothing but JPG photos
JPG to PDF is this converter narrowed to JPGs, with a page that talks only about them, if that is all you have.
A multi-page TIFF from a scanner or a fax
Image to PDF. Each page stored in the TIFF becomes its own page in the PDF, and reduced previews stored beside them are skipped.
The PDF comes out too big to send
Compress PDF on the result. Converted pictures are stored without loss, which keeps them sharp and is also what makes them heavy.
What each format becomes
A PDF can hold JPG and PNG pictures as they are, so their picture data goes in unchanged: a JPG's own picture data is copied across (re-saved only if its camera recorded it as mirrored) and the details its camera stored are left out, and a PNG keeps every pixel and its transparency.
WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF, TIFF and HEIC it cannot, so each of those is opened on your device and written in as a lossless copy of how it looks on screen. Nothing is lost in that step, but the copy is often larger than the original, most of all for a WebP or AVIF that was small because it was compressed hard.
HEIC and AVIF depend on your browser
WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF and HEIC are opened by the browser's own decoder. Every current browser reads WebP, GIF and BMP; AVIF needs a reasonably recent one, and HEIC is read only by Safari on a Mac and by every browser on an iPhone or iPad. TIFF is read by this site's own decoder, which handles the common compressions but not every one.
A picture your browser cannot open is refused with its reason as soon as you add it, rather than turning into a blank page. Save it as a JPG from the app that made it, or, for HEIC, open this page in Safari or on an iPhone or iPad instead.
Animations and wide color
A PDF page is still, so an animated GIF or WebP gives only its opening frame. If a later frame is the one you want, save that frame as a picture of its own before adding it.
Some newer phones and cameras save pictures with more color depth, or a wider range of color, than a screen shows. Those are brought down to standard color as they are converted, which is what a PDF reader would show of them anyway.
What to know before you start
- No text is read out of the pictures, so a photographed page stays a picture of words.
- HEIC needs Safari on a Mac, or an iPhone or iPad; AVIF needs a browser recent enough to open it; and a TIFF in an unusual compression may not open.
- A picture too large for your device to open is refused when you add it, and so is a batch past the number your device can place in one PDF.
- Nothing is uploaded. Every picture is opened and converted in your browser, and the PDF is saved to your device.