Some offices and exam portals ask for black-and-white documents, and colour printing costs far more ink. Grayscale keeps photos and shading as shades of grey; Black & white turns scans of text into sharp, high-contrast pages that print cleanly and often get much smaller.
loading toolHow to convert a PDF to black and white
- Choose the PDF.
- Pick Grayscale or Black & white and the quality.
- Press Convert and download.
Questions
Can I still select text afterwards?
No. Each page is redrawn as a grey picture. If you need searchable text, run the result through Make Scanned PDF Searchable (OCR).
Which mode is best for a scanned document?
Black & white, then move the cut-off slider until the text is dark and the background clean. Use Grayscale for photos.
My PDF says it is password-protected. What now?
If you know the password, open it with our Remove PDF Password tool first, then come back. We cannot (and will not) break passwords you do not have.
Is my data private?
Yes. Everything happens inside your own browser: nothing you type or choose is uploaded to us or anyone else.
Is it free?
Completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many times you use it. Light ads keep the site running.
