What's the difference between JPG and PDF?

JPG (also written JPEG) is the workhorse lossy format for photographs. PDF is the universal document format.

What quality should I pick?

For PDF, quality 75-85 is the sweet spot — small files with no visible difference from the original. Lower than 60 starts to show artifacts. Higher than 90 mostly just makes the file bigger.

Why convert away from JPG?

JPG (also written JPEG) is the workhorse lossy format for photographs. Where it falls down: anything that needs transparency (use PNG or WebP); screenshots and text-heavy images (compression artifacts around sharp edges); repeated re-saving — each save loses more detail. PDF addresses that for most workflows.

When is PDF the right format?

PDF is a good choice for: documents that need to print or render identically across devices; multi-page reports and contracts; combining multiple images into a single shareable document. It is a poor choice when anywhere you need to edit the content after the fact (PDFs are read-mostly).

Anything surprising about JPG or PDF?

JPG quality 80–85 is usually visually indistinguishable from the original. Don't ship q100. And on the PDF side: browsers can render PDFs in-page — no plugin required since around 2015.

Does this work on mobile?

Yes. The drop zone falls back to your phone's file picker, and conversions run on-device just like desktop. Large files may be slower on mobile due to CPU and memory constraints, but the workflow is identical.

What's the maximum file size?

No hard limit — the browser handles it. Files under 50MB convert in a few seconds. Larger files work but may take longer as the browser allocates memory. If you hit issues, batch in smaller groups.

Can I combine multiple images into one PDF?

Yes. Drop multiple JPG images and they'll be combined into a single PDF, one per page. Drag the queue to reorder pages before exporting.

Convert JPG to PDF

Combine JPG images into a single PDF in your browser. Useful for archiving photo sets, building report PDFs, or compiling a portable shareable document. Free, no upload.

Drop images to combine into a PDF

PNG, JPG, WebP — reorder with ↑/↓ then build

Images stay on your device.

Page size

Overview

Why convert JPG to PDF

PDF is a more practical choice than JPG for most modern workflows: documents that need to print or render identically across devices. Coming from JPG, the thing to know is that anything that needs transparency (use PNG or WebP).

Comparison

JPG vs PDF: what actually differs

JPG compared with PDF across encoding, fidelity, file size and support.
Attribute	JPG	PDF
Compression	Lossy	Lossy or lossless
Transparency	No	Yes
Animation	No	No
Typical file size	Medium	Varies
Browser support	Universally supported. It's been there since the first browsers.	Every browser can display PDFs natively. PDF.js (built into Firefox and Edge) is the same engine that powers most in-page PDF viewers.

How to

How to convert JPG to PDF

01
Drop your JPG files
Drag one or more JPG files onto the dropzone above, or click to browse. Files stay on your device — nothing uploads.
02
Convert in your browser
convert.now decodes each JPG and re-encodes it as PDF via WebAssembly. The conversion runs in a Web Worker so the page stays responsive.
03
Download the result
Download the assembled PDF document. For multiple inputs, all images are combined into one PDF.

Why here

Why convert.now

Private
Files stay in your browser. No upload step. Nothing for anyone to see.
Fast
No queue, no upload wait. Conversion starts the moment you drop a file.
Free
No ads. No file-count limit. No sign-up wall. Just the converter.

FAQ

JPG to PDF: common questions

No. The conversion from JPG to PDF runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly. Files never leave your device. Open DevTools' Network tab if you'd like to verify — there are no network requests with file contents.

Related JPG converters

Last updated 27 August 2026

Why convert JPG to PDF

JPG vs PDF: what actually differs

How to convert JPG to PDF

Drop your JPG files

Convert in your browser

Download the result

Why convert.now

JPG to PDF: common questions

Related JPG converters