Why does my iPhone HEIC photo take ~3 seconds longer than a JPG?

HEIC isn't natively renderable in non-Safari browsers, so we decode it via heic2any (which compiles libheif to WebAssembly) before embedding. That decode is the time cost. Safari decodes HEIC natively and is essentially instant. If you batch-convert HEIC files frequently and want max speed, save them out as JPG via iPhone's Photos app first (Share → Save to Files → choose JPG).

My portrait phone photos came out sideways. What's wrong?

They shouldn't — we read the EXIF Orientation tag and rotate during embedding. If a photo did come out sideways, it almost certainly had no EXIF orientation written (some screenshots and screenshot-to-photo round-trips strip it), and the source image data itself was sideways. Fix in /image/rotate-image first, then re-convert.

How much will the output PDF weigh vs the sum of my source images?

Within ~3% — pdf-lib adds a small structural overhead (cross-reference table, page tree, image XObject metadata) but doesn't re-encode the image bytes. A set of ten 4 MB iPhone photos lands at ~40.5 MB. If you need it smaller, run /pdf/compress-pdf on the output (typically 15–30% savings, more if your photos are highly compressible).

Can I add page numbers or text to the PDF after converting?

Yes — convert here, then /pdf/page-numbers to add 1/N footers, or /pdf/edit-pdf to drop text on specific pages. For complex annotations (highlights, comments, signature fields), /pdf/annotate-pdf has the full PDF.js annotation surface.

I have a PNG with transparency. Does the PDF preserve it?

No — and no PDF viewer does. PDF pages don't have a "transparent" mode; they have a background colour (default white). Transparent PNG areas come out white. If you need a coloured backdrop, edit the PNG first to add the background colour you want, or use /pdf/change-background-color on the resulting PDF.

Why is "JPG to PDF" a separate tool from "Image to PDF"? They look identical.

Functionally they're the same engine. We keep both URLs live because search intent differs — people Googling "convert JPG to PDF" outnumber "image to PDF" 4:1, and AdSense / SEO best practice is to serve the URL the user expects. Either tool accepts the same formats. Internally, both call the same ImageToPdfEditor with the same pdf-lib path.

Can the output be password-protected?

Not directly — protection is a separate step. Convert here, then drop the result into /pdf/protect-pdf to add a password (AES-256 encryption). Doing it as two steps keeps each tool single-purpose and means you can re-use the converted PDF unencrypted if needed.

JPG to PDF

Convert JPG images to PDF. Adjust orientation and margins.

Secure processingNo signup required100% freeDeleted in 1h

Drop your images here

Select one or multiple images to combine into a PDF

JPG, JPEG, PNGMax 200 MB · up to 10 files

What is JPG to PDF?

Most "JPG to PDF" tools online produce visibly worse output than the input — they re-encode every photo through canvas at 80% JPEG quality (silently halving the file size) and ignore EXIF rotation flags so iPhone portraits come out sideways. This tool does neither: pdf-lib embeds the source bytes directly into the PDF object stream (no re-encoding), and we read the EXIF Orientation tag on upload and rotate the image during embedding so it lands the right way up. The output is a clean PDF/1.4 file with one image per page, sized to the page format you choose (A4 default), with the image scaled to fit while preserving aspect ratio. iPhone HEIC files are transparently decoded in the browser via heic2any before embedding — you don't need to convert separately. PNG transparency is preserved by composing against white background (PDF doesn't do transparent page backgrounds).

Why use this tool?

No re-encoding means a 4 MB iPhone photo lands in the PDF as 4 MB of bytes, with the same visual quality you see in Photos.app. Most competing tools collapse this to ~1.2 MB at 80% quality — the file gets smaller but every face has compression artefacts. If you want SMALLER output, the right move is to compress AFTER converting (run the resulting PDF through /pdf/compress-pdf), not to silently lossy-compress every input. EXIF orientation handling means iPhone photos taken in portrait don't come out sideways — a surprisingly common failure of free PDF tools. The image is rotated during embedding so the PDF page natively renders the right way up, no "looks fine on my screen, sideways on the recipient's" problems. All runs in-browser via pdf-lib + Canvas. Your photos never upload. The number of images per merge is capped only by RAM — typically 100+ on desktop, 30–40 on iPhone 14.

Common use cases

The single most common reason someone runs this is a visa or passport form that wants the supporting documents bundled as one PDF — Schengen, US DS-160, UK Visas, Australian ETA, OCI/visa renewals all accept JPG for individual fields but require a PDF for the "supporting documents bundle". Drop your passport scan + photo + bank statements + employer letter, drag into the exact order the portal lists, download. Close seconds: assembling expense receipts from a phone roll (Uber receipts, restaurant bills, parking tickets — most photographed) into one PDF for monthly submission to QuickBooks/Xero; turning a workshop's flipchart photos into a recap PDF for the team; converting a set of product photos into a single-document brief for a manufacturer; sending an estate agent / contractor a set of "before" photos as one attachment instead of a 12-image album that'll get blocked by their email filter.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my iPhone HEIC photo take ~3 seconds longer than a JPG?: HEIC isn't natively renderable in non-Safari browsers, so we decode it via heic2any (which compiles libheif to WebAssembly) before embedding. That decode is the time cost. Safari decodes HEIC natively and is essentially instant. If you batch-convert HEIC files frequently and want max speed, save them out as JPG via iPhone's Photos app first (Share → Save to Files → choose JPG).
My portrait phone photos came out sideways. What's wrong?: They shouldn't — we read the EXIF Orientation tag and rotate during embedding. If a photo did come out sideways, it almost certainly had no EXIF orientation written (some screenshots and screenshot-to-photo round-trips strip it), and the source image data itself was sideways. Fix in /image/rotate-image first, then re-convert.
How much will the output PDF weigh vs the sum of my source images?: Within ~3% — pdf-lib adds a small structural overhead (cross-reference table, page tree, image XObject metadata) but doesn't re-encode the image bytes. A set of ten 4 MB iPhone photos lands at ~40.5 MB. If you need it smaller, run /pdf/compress-pdf on the output (typically 15–30% savings, more if your photos are highly compressible).
Can I add page numbers or text to the PDF after converting?: Yes — convert here, then /pdf/page-numbers to add 1/N footers, or /pdf/edit-pdf to drop text on specific pages. For complex annotations (highlights, comments, signature fields), /pdf/annotate-pdf has the full PDF.js annotation surface.
I have a PNG with transparency. Does the PDF preserve it?: No — and no PDF viewer does. PDF pages don't have a "transparent" mode; they have a background colour (default white). Transparent PNG areas come out white. If you need a coloured backdrop, edit the PNG first to add the background colour you want, or use /pdf/change-background-color on the resulting PDF.
Why is "JPG to PDF" a separate tool from "Image to PDF"? They look identical.: Functionally they're the same engine. We keep both URLs live because search intent differs — people Googling "convert JPG to PDF" outnumber "image to PDF" 4:1, and AdSense / SEO best practice is to serve the URL the user expects. Either tool accepts the same formats. Internally, both call the same ImageToPdfEditor with the same pdf-lib path.
Can the output be password-protected?: Not directly — protection is a separate step. Convert here, then drop the result into /pdf/protect-pdf to add a password (AES-256 encryption). Doing it as two steps keeps each tool single-purpose and means you can re-use the converted PDF unencrypted if needed.

Pro tips

1For visa/passport submissions, check the portal's actual max-file-size cap BEFORE converting. Schengen often allows 5 MB, US DS-160 is stricter at 2 MB per upload. Convert here, then /pdf/compress-pdf or /pdf/compress-to-100kb to hit the cap.
2If you're bundling 15+ phone photos and the result will be huge, compress each photo FIRST with /image/compress-image (target ~500 KB each) — the converted PDF then weighs ~10 MB instead of ~80 MB and the visual difference at A4 print is invisible.
3EXIF data (camera model, GPS coordinates, capture time) is preserved in the embedded image bytes. If you're submitting photos and want to strip that, use /image/remove-metadata on each source photo before converting.

How does it compare?

iLovePDF and Smallpdf upload your photos to their servers and re-encode them at 80% JPEG quality, which is invisible to the eye but produces a smaller, lossier PDF. Adobe Acrobat's combine-files preserves source quality but costs $14.99/month minimum. This tool runs in the browser, embeds source bytes without re-encoding, and handles iPhone HEIC + EXIF orientation properly — three things most free competitors get wrong.

Related guides

Editorial walk-throughs that go deeper on the workflow most people use this tool for.

How to Convert JPG to PDF on iPhone

Three iPhone-specific paths including a browser tool that preserves EXIF orientation.

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