AI to PDF
Convert an Adobe Illustrator .ai file to PDF in your browser. Vectors stay sharp, every artboard becomes a page, and no Illustrator licence is needed. Nothing is uploaded.
Drop your file here
or click to browse
- ProcessingOn your device
- Uploaded to a serverNothing
- InternetNot needed
Don't take our word for it. Turn off your Wi‑Fi, then use this tool. It will work exactly the same, which is only possible because your file never goes anywhere.
Worth knowing
Illustrator artwork is usually CMYK with spot colours, and PDF readers work in RGB — expect colours to shift very slightly.
Layers, editable text and live effects flatten into page content. That is what converting to a final format means, and it cannot be undone here.
A file saved with “Create PDF Compatible File” switched off cannot be read by anything outside Illustrator. That is rare — the option is on by default — and you will be told plainly if yours is one.
Your .ai file is already a PDF
This is the part almost nobody knows, and it explains why this works without a vector engine, a plugin or a subscription. Since Illustrator 9, saving a .ai file writes a complete PDF rendition of your artwork into the file, alongside Adobe's own editable data. The two live side by side. Open a .ai in a text editor and the first four characters are literally %PDF.
So converting is not really converting. It is reading the PDF that was in there all along and writing it out on its own, without the Illustrator-only parts wrapped around it. That is why the vectors stay vectors, why the result is often smaller than the original, and why it takes a moment rather than a minute.
What you get
- Real vectors, not a picture of them — the file scales to a billboard without going soft.
- One page per artboard, in the order Illustrator had them.
- A smaller file, because Adobe's private editable data is dropped once the artwork is final.
- Something anyone can open: a browser, a phone, a print shop, Preview, Acrobat.
The one case where it cannot work
Illustrator's Save As dialog has a checkbox called Create PDF Compatible File. It is ticked by default and most people never touch it. Untick it and Illustrator writes only its own private format — no PDF rendition, nothing any other program can read. Those files cannot be opened here, or by Acrobat, or by anything except Illustrator itself.
If yours is one of those, you will be told so directly rather than getting a vague failure. The fix is to open it in Illustrator, choose Save As, tick the box and save again.
An .eps file is a different thing entirely: PostScript, not PDF. Browsers cannot read PostScript, so those need Illustrator or Inkscape to re-save first.
What changes, honestly
Two things, and neither is a defect to be fixed. Illustrator artwork is usually built in CMYK, often with spot colours for exact brand matching; PDF viewers and screens work in RGB, so colours shift very slightly. If an exact Pantone match matters, send the print shop the original .ai and let them handle the separation.
The second is that layers, editable text and live effects flatten into page content. The result looks identical and is no longer editable as artwork. That is what converting to a final format means, and it is why you should always keep the .ai alongside whatever you export.
Doing it
- 1Add your .ai file — or several, if you have a logo in variants.
- 2Press convert. Nothing is uploaded; the file is read in this tab.
- 3Download the PDF. Several files come back as a zip.
If you need a flat image rather than a vector file, AI to PNG keeps transparent backgrounds and AI to JPG makes smaller files for email. If you already have the PDF and want images from it, PDF to JPG does the same job at whatever resolution you choose.
Questions people ask
Why can this open an .ai file at all?
Because since Illustrator 9 an .ai file already is a PDF. Adobe writes a full PDF rendition of the artwork and keeps its own editable data alongside it. So this is not really a conversion — it is reading the PDF that was always in there and writing it out on its own.
Do I need Illustrator installed?
No. That is the point. Nothing is installed and nothing is uploaded — the file is read in this browser tab.
Will the artwork stay sharp?
Yes. The vectors are copied across as vectors, so the result scales to any size without going soft. Nothing is rasterised.
What happens to multiple artboards?
Each artboard becomes one page of the PDF, in the same order Illustrator had them.
Can I convert several .ai files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they come back as a zip of PDFs. A file that cannot be read is skipped and named rather than stopping the rest.
How to use it
How-to guides · 18 August 2026 · 4 min
How to open an .ai file without Illustrator
Someone sent you an Adobe Illustrator file and you do not have Illustrator. There is a straightforward answer, and it works because of something most people never learn about the format.
How-to guides · 20 August 2026 · 4 min
How to open a CDR or EPS file without the software
A designer sends a .cdr and nothing on your computer will open it. Here is what those formats actually are, what opens them for free, and why no browser-based tool can honestly claim to convert them.