How to Convert PDF to JPG Using Python: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you looking to convert PDF to JPG using Python? Whether you need to extract images from a PDF for your website, project, or presentation, this guide will walk you through the process efficiently. By following these steps, you’ll be able to automate the conversion and save each PDF page as a separate JPG file.

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Why Convert PDF to JPG Images?

Converting PDF pages to JPG images is useful for:

• Web Content: Enhancing your website with high-quality images extracted from PDFs.
• Presentations: Integrating PDF content into your slides as images.
• Archiving: Creating image backups of important documents.

Prerequisites

Before we start, make sure you have the following installed:

• Python: Ensure Python is installed on your system. You can download it from python.org.
• Poppler: Required for pdf2image. Install it based on your OS:

macOS:

$ brew install poppler

Ubuntu/Debian:

$ sudo apt-get install poppler-utils

Windows: Download and add binaries from Poppler Windows to your PATH.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Install Required Python Libraries

You need pdf2image and Pillow to handle the conversion. Install them using pip:

Read the pdf2image documentation to learn more about converting PDFs to images.

$ pip install pdf2image Pillow

2. Create the Python Script

Save the following script as pdf_to_jpg.py:

pythonCopy codeimport sys
import os
from pdf2image import convert_from_path

def pdf_to_jpg(input_pdf, output_dir):
    """
    Convert each page of a PDF to a separate JPG image.
    
    :param input_pdf: Path to the input PDF file.
    :param output_dir: Directory where the JPG images will be saved.
    """
    if not os.path.exists(output_dir):
        os.makedirs(output_dir)
    
    # Convert PDF to a list of images
    images = convert_from_path(input_pdf)
    
    # Save each image as a JPG file
    for i, image in enumerate(images):
        output_jpg_path = os.path.join(output_dir, f'page_{i + 1}.jpg')
        image.save(output_jpg_path, 'JPEG')
        print(f"Page {i + 1} saved as {output_jpg_path}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
        print("Usage: python pdf_to_jpg.py <input_pdf> <output_dir>")
        sys.exit(1)
    
    input_pdf_path = sys.argv[1]
    output_dir_path = sys.argv[2]
    
    pdf_to_jpg(input_pdf_path, output_dir_path)

3. Run the Script

Open your terminal.

Navigate to the directory containing pdf_to_jpg.py.

Execute the script with:

$ python pdf_to_jpg.py <input_pdf> <output_dir> 

Replace <input_pdf> with the path to your PDF file and <output_dir> with the directory where you want to save the JPG images.

Example

$ python pdf_to_jpg.py sample.pdf output_images

This command will convert each page of sample.pdf to a JPG image and save it in the output_images folder. Each file will be named page_X.jpg, where X is the page number.

Conclusion

Converting PDF to JPG using Python is a straightforward process. By utilizing the pdf2image library, you can automate this task and efficiently handle multiple pages. This method is ideal for preparing PDF content for various formats and enhancing your workflow.