Each page is rasterized to grayscale—text search and fillable forms are not preserved. Keep your original color PDF. Processing runs locally; files are not uploaded.
Skip to converterDrop your PDF, pick print quality, and download a black & white copy—processed locally in your browser. No signup.
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A PDF to grayscale converter turns color pages into black and white for monochrome printing and preview. EverydayTools processes files locally in your browser—no upload and no signup.
Grayscale conversion removes color information so you can preview how a document will look on a black-and-white printer, meet submission rules that require greyscale figures, or share a print-friendly copy.
This tool renders each PDF page with PDF.js, applies ITU-R BT.601 luminance weighting, and rebuilds a new PDF with pdf-lib. The result is image-based: visual appearance is preserved, but text search and interactive form fields are not.
Always keep your original color PDF for editing, search, and archival workflows.
Upload → pick print quality → Convert to grayscale → Download. Output is for printing; keep the original for search and forms.
Concise answers for common searches — definitions, steps, and comparisons.
Color-to-grayscale conversion uses ITU-R BT.601: grayscale = (0.299 × R) + (0.587 × G) + (0.114 × B). Pure red converts to ~30% gray; pure green to ~59%; pure blue to ~11% (very dark). Colors that look equally prominent in color may become similar grays—add labels or patterns before printing charts.
Photo-heavy PDFs often shrink when color channels drop to one grey channel (roughly 20–60% smaller). Text-only vector PDFs may grow after rasterization because pages become images. Check the size comparison after conversion; use Compress PDF if the output is larger than you need.
Charts that use color as the only differentiator (especially red vs green) become unreadable in grayscale. Gradients may band at 256 gray levels. Colored form validation cues lose meaning. Fix the source with labels, patterns, or text before converting.
Grayscale uses 256 levels from black to white. True bilevel (1-bit) is only black or white—used for line art and OCR. This tool outputs grayscale, not bilevel.
Drag and drop a PDF (or click to browse). The file is processed locally in your browser—no upload.
Pick Standard, High contrast (best for printing), or Light grayscale depending on readability.
Click Convert to grayscale. Progress shows the current page number as pages are rasterized.
Download the grayscale PDF or convert another file. Your original PDF is not modified.
Common real-world scenarios where this tool saves time.
Office workers and administrators
Convert to greyscale before printing to verify that colour-only formatting (coloured text, charts with colour-only differentiation) is still readable when printed in black and white.
Publishers and academics
Some academic journals, patent offices, and government agencies require greyscale figures and images in submitted documents. Converting to greyscale PDF satisfies these requirements.
Archivists and records managers
Keep the color master for search and compliance; distribute a grayscale derivative for monochrome printing and internal review.
Step-by-step chains that connect related tools for common tasks.
Grayscale conversion reduces image channels from 3 (RGB) to 1, which can help subsequent compression on photo-heavy files.
Use this when only part of a packet must be black-and-white.
Input
quarterly-report.pdf (32 pages, colour charts and graphs)Output
quarterly-report-grayscale.pdf (32 pages, greyscale charts)Previewing a colour PDF in greyscale before black-and-white printing reveals which charts will print as indistinguishable grey areas. Add labels or patterns if series rely on color alone.
Input
claim-photos.pdf (18 pages, phone scans + color stamps)Output
claim-photos-grayscale.pdf (18 pages, print-safe greyscale)High contrast mode keeps stamp edges and handwritten notes visible when printed on an office monochrome laser printer.
Input
brochure-v3.pdf (12 pages, brand gradients and photos)Output
brochure-v3-grayscale.pdf (12 pages)Preview how gradients band in greyscale before sending to a print shop—adjust source artwork if mid-tones collapse.
Input
thesis-ch4-figures.pdf (6 pages, color-only line charts)Output
thesis-ch4-figures-grayscale.pdf (6 pages)Journal requires greyscale figures. After conversion, verify each series is labeled—not distinguished by color alone.
Input
tax-worksheet.pdf (4 pages, color section headers)Output
tax-worksheet-grayscale.pdf (4 pages, non-interactive)Use grayscale output only as a print reference—fillable fields do not work after rasterization. Keep the original for data entry.
Input
itinerary.pdf (24 pages, embedded color photos)Output
itinerary-grayscale.pdf (24 pages)Photo regions shrink channel data in greyscale; run Compress PDF afterward if email size limits still apply.
Processing runs entirely on your device. (1) PDF.js loads the file from memory and renders each page to a canvas at 2× scale for sharp text and charts. (2) Pixel data is converted with the ITU-R BT.601 luminance formula: Gray = 0.299×R + 0.587×G + 0.114×B. (3) Quality presets adjust tone: High contrast stretches mid-tones for print; Light grayscale lifts shadows for softer output. (4) Each page is encoded as PNG and embedded into a new PDF built with pdf-lib. Document metadata (title, author, subject, keywords) is copied when the source file allows.
Formula
L = 0.299×R + 0.587×G + 0.114×BPick the task—not every PDF job needs grayscale.
| Goal | Use this tool | Use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Black & white print preview | PDF to Grayscale | — |
| Smaller file, keep color | — | Compress PDF |
| PNG/JPG per page | — | PDF to Image |
| Lock form values (searchable) | — | Flatten PDF (Keep forms mode) |
| Bake in comments/highlights | — | Flatten PDF (Lock everything mode) |
| Extract pages before converting | — | Split PDF or Extract PDF Pages |
Use this page to turn a color PDF into grayscale for printing. For other PDF tasks, pick the tool that matches your goal.
| Related tool | Use this tool when | Use related tool when |
|---|---|---|
| Compress PDF | You need a black & white copy for printing or archiving and want to preview grayscale output first. | The PDF is already grayscale or you only need a smaller file size without changing color mode. |
| PDF to Image | You want a downloadable grayscale PDF document, not individual page images. | You need PNG or JPG pages for slides, social posts, or design tools—not a single PDF file. |
| Flatten PDF | You need a greyscale print copy of page content. | You need to lock form values or bake annotations—not change color mode. |
Save the grayscale copy with a new filename (for example, report-grayscale.pdf) and archive the color source for search, forms, and future edits.
Charts, small text, and scanned pages print more legibly with the High contrast preset—it widens tonal separation before rasterization.
Red and green data series often look identical in grayscale. Verify labels and patterns—not just colors—carry the meaning.
Text-heavy PDFs may grow when rasterized. Run the grayscale output through Compress PDF if you need a smaller attachment.
Rasterizing pages can increase size for text-only PDFs. Check the size comparison after conversion; use Compress PDF if needed.
Red and green series often look identical in grayscale. Add labels or patterns in the source file before converting.
Unlock the PDF in your viewer, save an unencrypted copy, then convert here.
Fix: Refresh the page to reload the PDF engine. Try a smaller file, disable strict browser extensions, or unlock encrypted PDFs first.
Fix: Pages render at 2× scale for sharpness; very large page sizes take longer. Try High contrast mode for print.
Fix: This tool rasterizes pages to images. Keep your original for search; use the grayscale file for printing only.
Form fields become static images—checkboxes and text inputs will not work. Keep the interactive original.
Rasterized pages disable text search. Use the color original for archives; grayscale only for print copies.
If guidelines require full-color figures or brand palettes, grayscale conversion removes required color information.
This tool optimizes for print preview, not professional prepress color management or long-term PDF/A workflows.
Continue the workflow with the right follow-up tool.
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Usually yes for photo-heavy PDFs—colour images use RGB (3 channels); greyscale uses one channel. Text-only PDFs may grow after rasterization because pages become images. Check the size comparison after conversion.
Technically no. Greyscale includes 256 levels from black to white. True bilevel (1-bit) is only black or white—used for line art and OCR. This tool converts to greyscale, not bilevel.
Coloured text uses luminance weighting: approximately 0.299×R + 0.587×G + 0.114×B. Red text that relies only on colour for emphasis may become hard to read in greyscale—verify the output before printing.
No. Each page is rendered to a grayscale image and rebuilt as a new PDF. Checkboxes, text fields, and digital signatures are not preserved—only the visual appearance. Keep your original for filling forms; use the grayscale copy for printing.
Black-and-white printers cannot reproduce colour and auto-convert during printing, often with poor results—especially for fine gradients and colour-only chart differentiation. Pre-converting lets you verify legibility and reduces surprises at the printer.
No. This tool rasterizes each page to an image for reliable grayscale conversion, so Ctrl+F search and text selection do not work in the output. Keep your original color PDF for search.
This tool converts the entire document. To grayscale specific pages only, use Split PDF to isolate those pages first, convert them, then Merge PDF back with the color sections.
Grayscale changes color content to black and white (may reduce size for image-heavy PDFs). Compress reduces file size without necessarily removing color. Use grayscale before monochrome printing; use compress for email size limits.
If your source is a scan, OCR first on the original color file if possible. OCR engines usually perform better before additional processing. After grayscale conversion, run OCR only if you need selectable text in a rasterized output.
Your PDF is processed in your browser—it is not uploaded to EverydayTools servers.
PDF.js renders each page locally; the grayscale PDF is assembled with pdf-lib in memory on your device.
Upload a one-page color PDF, convert with High contrast, download, and confirm text and charts print legibly in black and white.
Limitations: Output is image-based: no text search, no interactive forms. Archive the original color PDF separately.
For printing and preview—not a substitute for professional prepress or PDF/A archival workflows.
Part of PDF Tools
More free tools for the same workflow.
Convert PDF pages to JPG or PNG at 72–300 DPI. No upload—PDF.js runs locally in your browser. Free, no signup.
Split a PDF in your browser: pick pages on a thumbnail grid, type ranges like 1-3, 5, 7-9, or split every page into a ZIP. One combined PDF or one file per page—no upload, no signup, up to 100 MB.
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Reviewed on 2026-06-02.