EMF to PNG Converter
An .emf file is a list of Windows drawing commands, which is why it looks sharp in Word and PowerPoint and refuses to open almost everywhere else. Converting renders those commands into a PNG: a plain grid of pixels that any browser, phone or editor can show.
Image Converter
or drop JPG, JPEG, JPE … files here ·
Max 95 MB per file· Up to 20 files· Deleted after 30 minutes
Files are processed on our servers and deleted after 30 minutes.
85 keeps photos visually identical to the original. Lower it only when you need a smaller file.
JPG, BMP and EPS have no transparency. Transparent pixels are filled with this color.
Hex color used behind transparent pixels, e.g. #FFFFFF.
This format holds a single image. Choose GIF or WebP output if you want to keep the animation.
A multi-size icon contains several resolutions in one file; browsers and operating systems pick the one they need.
Keep the original dimensions, or enter one side and the aspect ratio is kept.
Pixels for the side you chose above.
Percentage of the original dimensions.
sRGB is right for screens and the web. Keep the original for print workflows; grayscale discards color.
Metadata only, 0 keeps the original value. Printers and some portals read this number; it does not change pixel dimensions.
How to use this tool
- 1
Add the .emf files
Drop charts, diagrams or clip art exported from Office, Visio or another Windows program. Up to 20 files at a time, each up to 95 MB.
- 2
Set a width if you need more pixels
PNG is already selected under Convert to. Open Advanced settings and use Resize output image with Set width when the PNG must fill a slide or a print layout.
- 3
Convert and check the edges
Press Convert to PNG, download, and view the result on both a light and a dark background to see how the empty areas came out.
What a Windows Enhanced Metafile actually contains
A metafile is a recording. When a Windows program draws a chart on screen it issues calls to the GDI graphics system: move here, draw a line, set this font, print this text. An .emf file saves those calls in order, together with a header that records the picture's bounds in hundredths of a millimeter. Play the records back and the drawing appears at any size, which is why a pasted Excel chart stays sharp when you stretch it in Word.
That design is also the problem. Playing the records back needs an engine that understands GDI, and outside Windows and Office very few programs ship one. Web browsers do not display .emf at all, Google Docs and many online editors reject it on upload, and phones show a generic file icon. Microsoft publishes the format as the MS-EMF specification, but publishing a format is not the same as other vendors supporting it.
EMF
Enhanced Metafile
EMF is a Microsoft vector graphics format introduced with 32-bit Windows in 1993. It records a sequence of Windows drawing commands, so it can mix vector shapes, text and bitmaps and print at high quality. It is common in Microsoft Office for charts and clip art and in Windows printing pipelines. Support outside Windows is limited, and browsers cannot display EMF files.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- No
- Introduced
- 1993 · Microsoft
PNG
Portable Network Graphics
PNG is a lossless raster format published in 1996 by the PNG Development Group and later standardised by the W3C and ISO. It keeps every pixel exactly, supports full alpha transparency and handles text, sharp edges and flat colours without artefacts. That precision makes it ideal for screenshots, logos, icons and interface graphics. The trade-off is size: photographs saved as PNG are often several times larger than the same photo as JPEG or WebP. All browsers, operating systems and editors open PNG files.
- Compression
- Lossless
- Transparency
- Yes
- Animation
- No
- Introduced
- 1996 · PNG Development Group
EMF to PNG is a rescue job: a chart or diagram born in Office or Visio has to appear on a web page, in a chat, in Google Slides or on a Mac, none of which draw Windows metafiles.
From WMF to EMF+: three generations of metafile
1990
WMF
The 16-bit Windows Metafile spreads with Windows 3.0 and fills early clip-art libraries.
1993
EMF
Windows NT 3.1 introduces the 32-bit Enhanced Metafile with a device-independent header.
2001
EMF+
GDI+ in Windows XP adds EMF+ records for anti-aliasing and transparency, stored inside an EMF wrapper.
Choosing the PNG resolution for an EMF drawing
| in | Pixels at | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 72 DPI | 150 DPI | 300 DPI | |
| 3 | 216 | 450 | 900 |
| 6 | 432 | 900 | 1800 |
| 10 | 720 | 1500 | 3000 |
| 13.33 | 960 | 2000 | 4000 |
The table turns the physical width of the drawing into pixels. A 6-inch chart in a Word report needs about 900 px to look clean on screen and 1,800 px for 300 DPI print. The 13.33-inch row is a full-width PowerPoint widescreen slide, the default 16:9 layout since Office 2013, so a diagram that fills a slide wants roughly 2,000 px for a projector.
Because PNG is lossless, a chart with flat colors stays compact even at large widths; there is no quality slider to worry about. If the destination is a website that serves vector graphics, ask whether the author can export SVG directly from the source program, then compare with our SVG to PNG and EPS to PNG converters, which handle the other two common vector formats. For which raster format suits what, see JPG vs JPEG vs PNG.
EMF to PNG questions
What program made my .emf file?
Usually Microsoft Office or Visio. PowerPoint's Save as Picture lists Enhanced Windows Metafile as a type, charts copied from Excel travel through the clipboard as EMF, and many engineering and statistics packages on Windows export it for pasting into reports.
Why does my Mac or phone show a blank icon for an .emf?
EMF is a Windows graphics format built on GDI drawing calls, and browsers, iOS, Android and most Mac apps never implemented it. LibreOffice and Office for Mac can open many files, but sending the picture to anyone else is easier as PNG.
Does the PNG stay sharp when I zoom in?
No. Once rendered, the drawing becomes pixels, so it has a fixed resolution. Pick the width you need before converting; if you later need a larger copy, convert the original .emf again rather than enlarging the PNG.
Is PNG or JPG the better target for an EMF chart?
PNG. Charts and diagrams are made of flat colors, thin lines and text, which PNG stores without blur. JPG smears the edges of text and adds noise around lines; it only makes sense if a form accepts nothing else, and then PNG to JPG can follow.
Can I convert a .wmf file on this page too?
Yes. WMF, the 16-bit predecessor of EMF, is accepted by the same converter. Older clip-art collections and documents from the Windows 3.x era often contain .wmf files.
Can I get an editable vector back out of the PNG later?
Only approximately. Tracing with PNG to SVG rebuilds shapes as paths, which works for simple logos but not for charts full of small text. Keep the original .emf if you may need to edit it.
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