PSD to PDF
Convert a Photoshop PSD to PDF in your browser. The page is sized to the artwork rather than dropped onto A4, and transparency is preserved. No Photoshop, nothing uploaded.
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- 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
A PSD saved without “Maximise Compatibility” has no flattened preview inside it. Those cannot be converted to an image without guessing at blend modes and masks, so they are refused rather than converted wrongly — layer extraction still works on them.
The artwork goes into the PDF as an image, because that is what a PSD is. Text in the document is pixels, not selectable text.
Why send a PDF rather than an image
Because everyone already knows what to do with one. A PDF opens the same way on every machine, prints predictably, previews inside email, and does not make a client wonder which application should handle it. For sending a comp out for approval it removes a small friction that images keep reintroducing.
It also travels better. A .psd is enormous and needs Photoshop; a PNG is fine but arrives as a bare file. A PDF is the format a review process expects.
The page is the artwork
Most converters drop the image onto an A4 sheet, which leaves your work as a small rectangle in a sea of white that the recipient has to crop. Here the page is made exactly the size of the document, in points — a 1200 by 800 pixel comp becomes a 1200 by 800 point page.
That is what you want when the PDF will be placed into something else or printed at a specific size. Putting artwork onto a page afterwards is easy; getting it off again is not.
What survives, and what does not
- Transparency survives — the artwork is embedded as PNG inside the PDF rather than JPEG.
- Colour and detail are exactly what Photoshop shows, because the document's own flattened preview is used.
- Text does not become selectable. A PSD stores text as part of the image once flattened, so it arrives as pixels.
- Layers do not survive. A PDF page here is one image, not a stack.
Files that cannot be converted
A PSD saved with Maximise Compatibility switched off contains no flattened preview, and rebuilding one from layers would mean reimplementing Photoshop's blend modes and masks — producing something that looks right and is not. Those are refused with the fix named. Re-save from Photoshop with the option on, under Preferences then File Handling, and it converts exactly.
Questions people ask
Why would I convert a PSD to PDF rather than a JPG?
Because a PDF opens the same way everywhere, prints predictably, and can be sent to a client or a printer without them needing an image viewer or asking what to do with it. It is the format people already know how to receive.
What size will the page be?
Exactly the size of the artwork, in points, rather than a standard sheet with your work floating in the middle. A 1200 by 800 pixel comp becomes a 1200 by 800 point page.
Will the text be selectable?
No. A PSD stores text as part of the image once flattened, so it arrives as pixels. If you need selectable text, the document has to be rebuilt in a layout tool.
Does transparency survive?
Yes — the artwork is embedded as PNG inside the PDF, which preserves it, rather than JPEG which would not.