TeX to PDF Converter
A .tex file is the source code of a document, not the document itself: it has to be typeset before anyone can read it. This page compiles the LaTeX source into a PDF for you, so you do not need a multi-gigabyte TeX distribution on your machine.
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 .tex source
Add up to 20 .tex or .latex files of up to 95 MB each. Every file should be a complete document with its own
\documentclassand\begin{document}. - 2
Keep PDF as the target
Convert to is set to PDF on this page. Nothing else needs changing for a standard article, letter or report.
- 3
Convert and read the result
Press Convert to PDF. Open the PDF and check equations, cross-references and the bibliography before you submit it anywhere.
Upload a complete .tex file, press Convert to PDF, and you get the typeset document with its equations, sections and page numbers, without installing a TeX distribution.
TeX to PDF without installing a TeX distribution
Donald Knuth wrote TeX in 1978 because he was unhappy with how the second edition of The Art of Computer Programming had been typeset. Leslie Lamport built LaTeX on top of it in the early 1980s, adding the commands most people know, \section, \begin{figure}, \cite, and LaTeX2e, the version in use today, arrived in 1994. Forty years on, it is still the standard for mathematics, physics and computer science papers.
The catch is that a .tex file has to be compiled. Locally that means installing TeX Live on Linux or Windows, MacTeX on a Mac or MiKTeX on Windows, all of which are large downloads. Students who received a homework template, reviewers who want to see a co-author's source as a document and anyone working on a school or library computer often just need the PDF once.
Have the opposite problem, a PDF you need to edit as LaTeX? Try PDF to LaTeX. For notes written in Markdown rather than LaTeX, Markdown to PDF is the simpler route.
LaTeX errors that stop a TeX to PDF conversion
Undefined control sequence
A command is misspelled or comes from a package you did not load. Check the line named in the message and add the missing
\usepackage{...}.Missing $ inserted
A math-only character such as
_or^appears in normal text. Wrap the expression in$...$, or escape it as\_when you meant a literal underscore.File not found for a .sty, image or chapter
The source depends on another file that was not uploaded. Paste custom macros into the preamble and merge
\inputchapters into one .tex.Citations show as ?
The .bib file is missing. Move the references into a
thebibliographyenvironment in the document itself.
What one TeX to PDF batch can hold
- .tex files per batch
- 20
- per source file
- 95 MB
- until source and PDF are deleted
- 30 min
- account needed
- None
TEX
TeX / LaTeX source
A .tex file is the source code of a TeX or LaTeX document. TeX was created by Donald Knuth in 1978, and LaTeX, a set of macros built on top of it by Leslie Lamport, is the standard for academic papers in mathematics, physics and computer science. Authors write plain text with commands for structure and equations, and a compiler produces a precisely typeset PDF. It produces excellent typography and maths, but has a steep learning curve and needs a TeX distribution or an online editor such as Overleaf to build.
- Compression
- –
- Transparency
- –
- Animation
- –
- Introduced
- 1978 · Donald Knuth (TeX); Leslie Lamport (LaTeX)
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
TeX source becomes PDF because nobody reads LaTeX markup directly: the PDF is the typeset paper, thesis or problem set that teachers, reviewers and readers actually open.
Who compiles LaTeX online, and when a full editor is better
This converter fits single-file jobs: a problem set from a course template, a one-page CV written in LaTeX, a short letter, or a co-author's draft you want to read on a phone. Upload, compile, read.
A project with dozens of figures, a separate bibliography and chapter files is a different job. Use a LaTeX editor that keeps the whole project together and lets you recompile after every change, then handle the finishing steps, such as shrinking the PDF without losing quality for an upload portal.
TeX to PDF questions
Do I need TeX Live or MiKTeX installed to turn .tex into PDF?
Not for this route. The typesetting happens on the conversion server, so you only upload the source file. A full TeX Live installation runs to several gigabytes, which is why a quick online compile is handy on a borrowed or locked-down computer.
My document includes figures from separate image files. Will they appear?
Only the .tex file is uploaded, so \includegraphics cannot reach images stored next to it on your disk. For a document with many figures, a full LaTeX editor such as Overleaf, which keeps the whole project together, is the better tool.
What happens to citations if my .bib file is separate?
The bibliography database is a separate file, so citations print as question marks. Paste the references into a thebibliography environment inside the .tex before converting, and they will be typeset normally.
Can I turn the PDF back into LaTeX later?
Yes, PDF to LaTeX rebuilds .tex source from a PDF, though equations and custom macros need checking by hand. Keep your original .tex as the master copy whenever you can.
Which documents compile most reliably?
Single-file articles, homework sheets, letters, CVs and short reports using common packages such as amsmath, graphicx, geometry and hyperref. Theses split into many chapter files should be merged into one .tex first.
Is the PDF suitable for arXiv or a journal?
arXiv asks for the TeX source rather than a compiled PDF and typesets it with its own TeX installation, so upload the .tex there. Use this page to check how the document looks, or for journals and teachers who want a PDF.
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