Convert PDF to JPG in Firefox

Why Firefox is already set up for this

Firefox displays PDFs with an open-source engine called Mozilla PDF.js. This converter loads that same library into the page, so the code doing the work is code you already run every time you open a PDF in Firefox - not an unknown service on someone else’s machine.

Two things follow from that. Output is predictable, because the renderer drawing your pages here is the one Firefox uses to draw them on screen, at the resolution you choose. And nothing has to be installed: there is no add-on to review, no permission to grant, and no second application holding its own copy of your document.

• Firefox has a PDF viewer built in; PDFtoJPG.ca adds the JPG export that Firefox leaves out.
• Mozilla PDF.js renders each page - the same engine, at the DPI you pick.
• No add-on, no companion application and no browser permission prompt.
• The rendering happens inside the tab, so the document is never uploaded.

Convert the PDF in Firefox

The job runs inside the tab, so keep it in the foreground until the progress panel reaches the number of pages you selected. A long conversion can be cancelled at any point, and the pages finished before you stopped stay available to download.

1. 1Open the converter and drag your PDF onto the drop zone, or press Choose PDF Files and pick it in the file picker.
2. 2Every page is selected at first. Click a preview to include or exclude a page, or type a range such as 1, 3, 5-8.
3. 3Choose 150 DPI for screen use or 300 DPI for printing. Advanced settings add a custom resolution and a JPEG compression slider.
4. 4Press Convert to JPG and follow the progress line, which names the page being rendered.
5. 5Download each image on its own, or press Download all as ZIP for the whole document.

Where downloads go in Firefox

Firefox saves everything to one folder and lists it in the Downloads panel, so the finished images are easy to find afterwards.

• The Downloads panel opens from the arrow in the toolbar; Ctrl+J opens the full list at about:downloads, where an item can be retried or cleared.
• Right-click an entry in that list and choose Show in Folder to open the destination with the file already selected.
• By default the images go to your Downloads folder: ~/Downloads on Linux and macOS, C:\Users\your-name\Downloads on Windows.
• To decide the destination yourself, tick "Always ask you where to save files" in Settings › General › Files and Applications.
• A multi-page job arrives as a single ZIP. Firefox hands it straight to your system, so double-click it on Windows or macOS and use unzip on Linux.
• On Firefox for Android, downloads land in the Download folder shown in the notification shade, and the Files app can unzip the archive without extra software.

No extension, nothing installed

Add-ons that promise PDF conversion usually need broad permissions before they can do anything, often including access to your data on every site you visit. This conversion needs none of that. It is an ordinary web page, so the only access involved is the one file you deliberately choose, which Firefox grants for that single selection.

Nothing is downloaded and installed, and nothing is left behind once the tab is closed. The page, including its copy of PDF.js, loads from this site the first time you visit; after that the conversion is local and no request carries your document. If you want to see that for yourself, open the developer tools with F12, watch the Network tab during a conversion, and note that the requests are the page and its assets — your PDF is not among them.

Read more: converting a PDF without uploading it

• No add-on: nothing new appears in about:addons, and there is no extension to keep updated or re-review later.
• No permission prompt: the browser only hands over the file you pick.
• Nothing installed: the browser tab is the whole application.
• Nothing retained: pages are held in memory while the job runs and released as soon as you start over or close the tab.
• Enhanced Tracking Protection makes no difference here, because nothing in the conversion depends on cross-site tracking.