PDF to HTML Converter
A PDF is a stack of fixed pages; a web page flows to fit whatever screen opens it. Upload a PDF and get HTML with real headings, paragraphs and tables you can publish, paste into a CMS or read comfortably on a phone.
Document Converter
or drop PDF, DOC, DOCX … 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.
150 DPI turns an A4 page into about 1240 × 1754 px. Use 300 for printing.
Convert the whole file or only some pages or slides (PDF and presentation input).
Pages or slides to convert, e.g. 1-3, 5, 8-10.
UTF-8 works for every language. Choose UTF-8 with BOM if Excel or Notepad on Windows shows garbled characters; legacy encodings only for old software.
LF for macOS, Linux and code editors; CRLF for older Windows programs such as classic Notepad.
Comma is standard. Use semicolon for Excel in countries that write decimals with a comma (Germany, France, Brazil).
Excel input with several sheets: convert all of them (one section or file per sheet) or only the first.
How to use this tool
- 1
Upload the PDF
Add a report, handout or brochure, or up to 20 PDFs at once, each up to 95 MB.
- 2
Pick how much styling to keep
Formatting on Keep all copies fonts and colors for a stand-alone page. Switch to Simple when the HTML goes into WordPress or another editor that applies its own design.
- 3
Convert to HTML
Press Convert to HTML. Open the result in a browser to check it, then publish it or copy the markup where you need it.
Upload a PDF, keep HTML as the target and press Convert to HTML: the converter rebuilds the text as headings, paragraphs and tables that reflow on any screen.
Why convert PDF to HTML instead of posting the PDF
Adobe designed PDF in 1993 so a document would print the same everywhere, and it does that job well. The cost is that a PDF has no idea about screens: text sits at fixed coordinates on a page, often in two columns, and a phone can only zoom into it. HTML works the other way round. It describes structure, such as this is a heading and this is a list, and lets the browser lay it out for the width it has.
That is why universities move lecture handouts into their learning platforms as pages, councils republish PDF policies as web text, and marketers turn a white paper into a landing page. Each of them needs the words to stay accurate while the layout changes. If you need an editable document rather than a web page, PDF to Word is the better target, and the guide on converting PDF to Word covers that route.
What a PDF to HTML conversion keeps
| from ↓ · to → | HTML | DOCX | TXT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paragraph text | Paragraph text to HTML: yes | Paragraph text to DOCX: yes | Paragraph text to TXT: yes |
| Headings | Headings to HTML: yes | Headings to DOCX: yes | – Headings to TXT: no |
| Tables | Tables to HTML: yes | Tables to DOCX: yes | – Tables to TXT: no |
| Images | Images to HTML: yes | Images to DOCX: yes | – Images to TXT: no |
| Links | Links to HTML: yes | Links to DOCX: yes | – Links to TXT: no |
| Scanned pages | Scanned pages to HTML: yes | Scanned pages to DOCX: yes | Scanned pages to TXT: yes |
How PDF pages are rebuilt as HTML
Read the page
Each text run is read with its position, font and size, and pictures are pulled out of the page.
Find the structure
Lines are joined into paragraphs, larger type becomes headings and aligned cells become a table.
Write the markup
The content is written as h1 to h6, p, ul and table elements in reading order.
Check reading order on multi-column pages
Untagged PDFs do not record which column comes first, so the order has to be worked out from positions. Newsletters with sidebars, pull quotes or text wrapped around photos are worth a quick read-through in the browser before you publish.
PDF and HTML format facts
Portable Document Format
PDF was created by Adobe in 1993 and became the open ISO 32000 standard in 2008. It fixes text, fonts, images and layout so a document looks the same on every screen and printer. PDFs can contain forms, signatures, links, attachments and searchable text, and the PDF/A variant is used for long-term archiving. The fixed layout makes PDFs hard to edit, and scanned PDFs contain only images unless OCR is applied. Every browser and operating system can open them.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- Yes
- Animation
- No
- Introduced
- 1993 · Adobe
HTML
HyperText Markup Language
HTML is the markup language of the web, first described by Tim Berners-Lee in the early 1990s and now maintained by WHATWG as a living standard. An HTML file describes headings, paragraphs, links, tables, images and forms, while styling usually comes from CSS. Every browser renders it, and it is also used for email templates and saved web pages. A single HTML file often depends on external images and stylesheets, so it may look broken when moved on its own.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 1993 · Tim Berners-Lee; maintained by WHATWG
PDFs go to HTML when a document written for print has to live on the web: a policy that must be readable on phones, a course handout moving into a learning platform, or a report that should be indexed and linked like a normal page.
PDF to HTML questions
Why not just link to the PDF on my website?
PDFs open at a fixed page width, so on a phone readers pinch and scroll sideways, and many visitors never download them at all. The UK's Government Digital Service has argued since 2018 that public information should be published as HTML for exactly these reasons. An HTML version reflows, works with screen readers and can be searched like any other page.
Will the HTML look exactly like the PDF pages?
It will look like a web page with the same content, not a picture of the page. Headings, lists, tables and images stay in order, but page breaks, running headers and exact column positions are dropped, because HTML has no pages. If you need a pixel-identical result, keep the PDF.
Which setting gives the cleanest markup for a CMS?
Formatting on Simple. It keeps headings, lists, bold text and tables but leaves out font and color styling, so your site's theme decides how the text looks. Text only strips the markup down to paragraphs.
Can I convert just one chapter of a long PDF?
Yes. Under Advanced settings, set Pages to Page range and enter something like 12-30. Only those pages are turned into HTML, which keeps the file short and easier to edit.
What happens with a password-protected PDF?
A PDF that asks for a password before it opens has to be unlocked first. If you know the password, unlock PDF removes it, and you can then convert the unlocked copy here.
