Interactive reference calculator

PDF to PNG DPI calculator and pixel-size chart

Choose a PDF page size and DPI to calculate the exact PNG width, height, megapixels, and working memory. The formula and common reference values are published below.

Quick answer

A US Letter PDF exported at 200 DPI is 1,700 × 2,200 pixels. An A4 page at 200 DPI is 1,654 × 2,339 pixels. Multiply each page dimension in inches by the target DPI, then round to the nearest whole pixel.

Calculate PNG dimensions

Pixel dimensions1,700 × 2,200
Megapixels3.74
RGBA working memory14.3 MB

US Letter at 200 DPI exports to 1,700 by 2,200 pixels in portrait orientation.

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PDF to PNG pixel dimensions by DPI

Page size72 DPI96 DPI150 DPI200 DPI300 DPI600 DPI
US Letter
8.5 × 11 in
612 × 792816 × 1,0561,275 × 1,6501,700 × 2,2002,550 × 3,3005,100 × 6,600
A4
210 × 297 mm
595 × 842794 × 1,1231,240 × 1,7541,654 × 2,3392,480 × 3,5084,961 × 7,016
US Legal
8.5 × 14 in
612 × 1,008816 × 1,3441,275 × 2,1001,700 × 2,8002,550 × 4,2005,100 × 8,400
Tabloid
11 × 17 in
792 × 1,2241,056 × 1,6321,650 × 2,5502,200 × 3,4003,300 × 5,1006,600 × 10,200

The formula

Pixel width = page width in inches × DPI.
Pixel height = page height in inches × DPI.

PDF page geometry is normally expressed in points, where 72 points equal one inch. If you know the PDF width in points, the equivalent calculation is pixels = points × DPI ÷ 72. The calculator rounds the final result to the nearest whole pixel.

Which DPI should you use?

72–96 DPI

Small previews, thumbnails, chat attachments, and on-screen reference images. Fine print may soften.

150 DPI

Readable web documents and presentation slides when file size matters more than close zooming.

200 DPI

A practical balance for OCR, documentation, and readable page images. A Letter page becomes 1,700 × 2,200 pixels.

300 DPI

Printing, archival inspection, small typography, and stronger OCR input. Expect much larger images and memory use.

More DPI does not recover detail that is absent from the source. It only samples the PDF page at a larger raster size. Vector text and shapes scale cleanly; low-resolution embedded photos remain limited by their original pixels.

Why PNG file size cannot be predicted from DPI alone

The calculator reports uncompressed RGBA working memory, not the final PNG file size. PNG compression depends heavily on page content. A mostly white page with black text compresses well; a full-page photograph or noisy scan may be many times larger at the same dimensions.

Memory still matters because the browser must render the full pixel buffer before compressing it. A 600 DPI Letter page is 5,100 × 6,600 pixels and needs about 128.4 MB for one four-channel pixel buffer, before temporary copies and PNG encoding overhead.

Verified output example

In the 22-workflow browser PDF benchmark, pages 1 and 3 of a Letter PDF were exported at 200 DPI. Independent image inspection measured both PNGs at exactly 1,700 × 2,200 pixels with opaque white paper areas.

Frequently asked questions

Is 300 DPI always best for PDF to PNG?
No. Use 300 DPI for print, small type, or detailed inspection. For web use and OCR, 150 or 200 DPI is often easier to process and produces much smaller images.
What size is an A4 PDF at 300 DPI?
An A4 portrait page is approximately 2,480 × 3,508 pixels at 300 DPI. Landscape orientation swaps the dimensions.
Does changing DPI change the physical PDF page?
No. DPI only controls how densely the fixed-size PDF page is sampled into pixels. It changes the raster image dimensions, not the PDF's physical page size.