Convert a PDF to grayscale in your browser
Convert a PDF to grayscale (black and white) free in your browser. Great for printing and shrinking colour scans — fully private, no upload, no sign-up.
100% private — files never leave your deviceRe-renders every page in grayscale. Note: this rasterizes pages, so the text stops being selectable — ideal for black-and-white printing or shrinking colour scans.
How to use
- Select your PDF. Choose or drag in the PDF you want to convert. It loads straight into your browser — nothing is uploaded.
- Convert to grayscale. The tool re-renders every page in grayscale with pdf.js and rebuilds the file locally with pdf-lib.
- Download the black-and-white PDF. Save the new grayscale PDF to your device, ready to print, archive or share.
Features
- Nothing leaves your device. Pages are re-rendered and rebuilt locally with pdf.js and pdf-lib, so your PDF is never uploaded to any server.
- Ideal for black-and-white printing. Removes every colour so pages print cleanly and predictably on a mono printer with no surprise colour ink use.
- Can shrink heavy colour scans. Flattening colourful scanned pages to grayscale often produces a noticeably smaller, easier-to-email file.
- Free with no sign-up. Convert as many PDFs as you like at no cost — no account, no email and no watermark on the output.
When to use it
- Preparing a confidential contract or report for clean black-and-white office printing without uploading it anywhere
- Shrinking a bulky colour scan of receipts or statements into a lighter file that is easier to email
- Converting colourful medical or legal scans to grayscale before archiving them privately
- Toning down a brightly designed brochure or slide deck so it photocopies and faxes clearly
- Creating a neutral, ink-friendly version of a document to hand out as printed reading copies
Is it private?
Your PDFs are processed locally in your browser and are never uploaded to any server.
Frequently asked questions
Is this grayscale PDF converter really free?
Yes. Converting PDFs to grayscale is completely free with no sign-up, no account and no watermark. You can convert as many files as you want.
Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?
No. Each page is re-rendered and rebuilt entirely in your browser using pdf.js and pdf-lib, so your file is processed locally and never uploaded. That makes it safe for confidential documents.
Will the text still be selectable or searchable afterwards?
No. This tool rasterizes each page (turns it into an image) while converting to grayscale, so the resulting PDF looks right but its text can no longer be selected, copied or searched. It is best when you mainly need to view, print or share the document.
Does converting to grayscale make the file smaller?
Often, yes — especially for colourful scans, where dropping the colour can noticeably reduce the size. For PDFs that are mostly text, rasterizing the pages into images can sometimes make the file larger instead.
Are there any file size or format limits?
The tool works with standard PDF files and runs locally, so there is no server-side upload cap. Very large or high-page-count PDFs depend on your device's memory and may take a little longer, since all rendering happens in your browser.
Is it true black and white or shades of grey?
It is grayscale, meaning the full range of grey tones from black to white. Photos and shading are preserved as greys rather than being forced to pure black-and-white only.
Does it change my original PDF?
No. Your original file stays untouched on your device. The tool creates a separate new grayscale PDF that you download.
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