PDF to black and white, or grayscale
PDFCheetah's free PDF to Black and White tool turns a PDF gray or black and white in your browser — scans and pictures converted, text and drawings grayed — and your file never leaves your device.
Updated
Choose a PDF file to turn black and white
One file · up to 80 MB · PDF bytes are checked on this device
Processed on this device
Selecting and processing files stays in this browser.
Checking offline readiness
Offline availability is confirmed after this tool loads.
Why there is no daily limit, and no upload
How to turn a PDF black and white
- Open the PDF — a scan, a color document, slides.
- Choose Grayscale to keep every shade, or Black and white for two tones, the way a scanner’s black-and-white mode saves a page.
- Select Create, then Download.
What changes
Scanned pages and pictures are converted for real: their color is taken out of the file, and in black and white they are saved one bit per pixel, which usually makes a scanned document much smaller. Text, charts and other drawings are turned gray by a filter laid over each page, so they look and print gray. It all happens in this browser tab: nothing is uploaded.
Current limitations
The filter changes how text and drawings look, not the color values written in the file, and it does not turn them pure black and white. Comments and form fields keep their color. A few picture formats — JPEG 2000, CMYK JPEGs and some others — are kept as they are, and the result says how many. Password-protected PDFs cannot be opened here yet: use Unlock PDF first if you know the password.
Common questions
- Is my PDF uploaded to make it black and white?
- No. The PDF is converted in your browser and the new file is written on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
- What is the difference between grayscale and black and white?
- Grayscale keeps every shade of gray, so photos still look like photos. Black and white keeps two tones only, like a scanner's black-and-white mode, which suits text. Where gray turns black is chosen for each picture, or set by you.
- Is the color really taken out of the file?
- From scanned pages and pictures, yes: their color is removed, and in black and white they are saved one bit per pixel. Text and drawings are turned gray by a filter over each page, so they look and print gray, but the colors they were written with are still in the file.
- Will the PDF get smaller?
- Often, when it is mostly scans or pictures, and most in black and white. A PDF of text and drawings stays about the same size. The result says how big the file was before and after.
- Does anything keep its color?
- Comments and form fields do, and a few picture formats — JPEG 2000, CMYK JPEGs and some others — are kept as they are. The result says how many pictures could not be converted.
- How do I open a PDF from another app on my phone?
- On Android, install PDFCheetah from Chrome's menu, then share the PDF from the app it is in and choose PDFCheetah. On an iPhone or iPad, share the PDF to Save to Files, then choose it from Files on this page. The PDF is opened on your device. One exception on Android: if PDFCheetah's data on your phone has been cleared, Android sends the shared PDF to our server, which refuses it without reading it or keeping a copy, and the page tells you it happened.