Step 1: Drop your PDF files using the button above or by deposit and leave.
Step 2: Click the 'Convert' button to start the conversion.
Step 3: Receive your converted SVG files.
PDF to SVG Conversion FAQ
What DPI does the SVG render at?
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The Resolution menu on the converter page offers 72 DPI for screen use, 150 DPI, which is the default, and 300 DPI for print. Higher resolutions give sharper but larger SVG files.
Does the SVG output support transparency?
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The format does, but the source has no alpha to give it — video frames and rendered pages are fully opaque by nature, so every pixel arrives solid. The alpha channel is still useful afterwards: it means you can cut a subject out of the SVG later without changing format again. SVG renders perfectly at any size, stays editable, is searchable and diffable as plain text, and is usually a fraction of the size of an equivalent PNG.
How big will the SVG files be?
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Larger than you might expect, because SVG keeps every pixel exactly rather than approximating. A 1080p still lands around 2-5 MB and a 4K still around 6-15 MB, so a long extraction run adds up quickly. That is the right trade when the images feed further processing, and the wrong one when they are going straight onto a web page. An SVG stores shapes as mathematical paths and text as text, not as pixels, so it is a document rather than a raster grid.
Can I convert only part of the PDF instead of all of it?
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Only down to the first page. The Pages menu offers All pages or First page only, which is enough for a cover or a thumbnail. For any other page, split the PDF first with /pdf-split/ and convert just the pages you need.
How does text inside the SVG behave?
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In an SVG, text is real text — selectable, searchable and re-styleable, and it needs the font to be available or embedded to render as intended. Converting away from SVG turns that text into pixels or into document text depending on the target; converting towards SVG only produces real text if the source had a text layer to begin with.
Is the PDF side of this conversion searchable?
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It depends entirely on whether real text is present. A PDF generated from a document carries an actual text layer and is searchable; a PDF built from scans or images is a picture of text and is not, until OCR adds a layer. /pdf-ocr/ does that, and it is worth running before any conversion that expects to read the words.
Do I get one image per page?
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Yes. Each page renders as its own SVG file, numbered in page order, so a one-page document gives a single SVG and a longer one gives one image per page.
Can I convert only some pages of the PDF to SVG?
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The Pages menu has two choices: all pages, which is the default, or the first page only. There is no way to type in a page range. For other pages, split the PDF into single pages with /pdf-split/ and convert the pages you need.
Will the SVG preserve PDF text searchability?
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No — rasterizing PDF to SVG turns text into pixels. If you need searchable output, keep the PDF as a PDF and use a text-extraction tool instead. Image output (SVG) is for visual display or further image processing.
What about transparent backgrounds in the SVG?
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Pages are rendered onto a white background, so image formats such as PNG and JPG have no transparent areas, even where the page in the PDF has no fill.
How long does PDF to SVG take for a 100-page document?
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There is no fixed figure: it depends on the number of pages, the resolution you choose and how busy the servers are. A long document at 300 DPI takes noticeably longer than the same document at 72 or 150 DPI, and converting only the first page is the quickest option.
