How to Extract Images From a PDF

Resources » Working With PDFs » How to Extract Images From a PDF

In this post, we explain how you can extract an image from a PDF, so you can use it in other documents and digital media. We cover image extraction with a Windows computer and a Mac or Apple iOS.

Have you ever received a digital file and wished you could cut out a specific picture? With the PDF file format, you can. Separating a graph, image, table, or other element from a digital document is referred to as extracting. You have a few options to do this, depending on what operating system your computer uses, as well as what quality you need the extracted element to be.

In this article, we’ll be going through how you can extract images and any other element from a PDF. Before we do that, it’s worth taking note of copyright and image fair use laws.

Copyrights and Image Extraction

Any images that you extract from a PDF not created by you is considered copyrighted by the original creator of the image. Copyright refers to the United States law that protects authors and original creators of creative works such as written text, music, and images. If you didn’t pay for the image or get permission from the original creator to use their image, there’s a fair chance it’s not your image to use.

While you should be cautious about using images, your usage may fall under fair use. What is fair use?

Fair use refers to how you plan on using the image that you extract. You can actually use copyrighted works if they’re for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research,” according to Section 107 of the Copyright Act. To determine if your use is fair use and doesn’t fall under copyright laws, you’ll need to consider:

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
• The nature of the copyrighted work;
• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

For example, if you want to pull a nice photo of the countryside out of a PDF and use it for a Christmas card you plan to send to your family, you probably don’t need to worry about copyright laws. However, if you plan to pull that same photo out and use it for a Christmas card template you plan to sell online, you’ll probably run into copyright issues.

Note that just because you give credit to the photographer or creator of the original image does not mean you can evade copyright law. Unless the photo is specifically for Creative Commons usage (you can use, copy, modify the images for free), you can’t use the image without permission. Even some Creative Commons images will require you to attribute or provide a link to the original creator.

Be cautious with how you use the images you extract online! None of this should be considered legal advice. It’s always best to consult a legal professional.

Extract Photos from a PDF with PDF.Live

If you have access to a PDF reader, those usually have tools to help you extract high quality images in a variety of formats. The PDF.Live editor has a snipping tool built into it that lets you extract specific parts of your PDF and copy/save them for future use. These images won’t have higher resolutions than your PDF, but you’ll be able to extract elements from a PDF using the steps below.

1. Upload your PDF to the PDF.Live editor to convert the PDF to an editable PDF. 

2. Select any of the options under “Popular Editing Tools,” then from the menu, select Edit. Under the Edit tab, select the Snipping tool icon, which looks like a box with scissors next to it. 

3. To extract an image to your clipboard (for pasting elsewhere), select Copy to Clipboard. 

You will then be prompted to draw a box on your PDF that will represent the boundaries of the image you want to extract. In the above example, we’ve marked a section for extraction. You can further adjust the bounds of this box by clicking and dragging the blue dots around the perimeter. When you’re done, click Apply. 

You can then Paste the image anywhere else you want, like in a separate document!

4. To download the extracted image (in PNG format), select Download. 

Use the same process in the previous steps to specify an area that you want to extract from your PDF document. You can then select Apply and PDF.Live will immediately download the section of your PDF that you snipped as a PNG image file. 

The final option, Crop and Remove crops all except a section of your PDF that you specify from a page. If you want to reduce the size of a PDF, or only include a specific section of your PDF, you can select an area and crop it to remove everything else that’s in the document except for the specified area. 

The snipping tool works with almost anything that’s on your screen, so try it out to understand how it works!