Convert a PDF to Black and White
Colour pages cost more to print, and some courts, universities and application portals ask for black-and-white documents. PDFSpark converts every colour in the PDF to shades of grey while keeping the text selectable and links working. If a file can't be converted that way, it tells you and offers to turn the pages into grey images instead.
Your file is processed by your own browser and never uploaded. Most online tools send your document to their servers and delete it later — this one never receives it at all.
Why use PDF to Black and White
- Keep text mode: colors become gray while text stays selectable and searchable
- Photos, drawings, gradients and form fields converted too
- Pages-as-images mode at 150, 200 or 300 DPI for any PDF
- Tells you plainly when a file needs the image mode
- Preview of the converted first page and before-and-after file size
- Processed locally, never uploaded
Popular uses
- Save color ink when printing long documents
- Meet application portals that require black-and-white documents
- Prepare documents for faxing or monochrome printers
PDF to Black and White: frequently asked questions
Will the text still be selectable?
Yes, in the default Keep text mode, which changes the colours inside the PDF instead of turning pages into pictures. If a document uses colour in a way that can't be converted safely, PDFSpark explains why and offers Pages as images.
Is black and white the same as grayscale?
Here it means grayscale: colours become shades of grey, so photos and charts keep their detail. Pure two-tone black and white would lose the shading, which is rarely what you want for documents.
Will it save colour ink?
Yes — there's no colour left to print, so printers set to black only handle it without complaint. Dark backgrounds still use plenty of black ink, so remove them first if ink matters.
Does the file get smaller?
Often a little, because colour images become single-channel grey images. If size matters, run it through Compress PDF afterwards.
Is it free?
Yes. Grayscale PDF is a free tool: 3 operations a day without an account, and your PDF is never uploaded.
Related tools
Grayscale PDF
Convert a colour PDF to grayscale, keeping text selectable
Compress PDF
Make PDFs smaller while keeping text sharp, or hit a size like 100 KB or 1 MB
PDF to Images
Convert PDF pages to PNG or JPG images
OCR PDF
Extract text from scanned PDFs and images using OCR
Pages per Sheet
Put 2, 4, 6, 9 or 16 PDF pages on each sheet