What happens when you convert AI to PNG
- The AI is read by Ghostscript, the standard open-source PostScript interpreter, and each artboard is drawn by MuPDF at 300 dpi, at the artboard's own size, on our conversion server.
- The artwork is drawn on a white background, so the PNG has no transparency. At 300 dpi, artwork 10 cm wide becomes about 1,180 pixels wide, and the longest side is capped at 6,000 pixels. An AI with several artboards gives one PNG per artboard, together in a ZIP file.
- PNG is lossless, so text and lines stay exactly as crisp as they were rendered.
- Ghostscript reads the PDF part that Illustrator saves inside an AI file. An AI saved with "Create PDF Compatible File" turned off has no such part, and gives only a page saying so; resave it with that option on.
- This conversion runs on our server: the file is uploaded, converted, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result has been sent back to you. Nothing is kept. Files up to 25 MB are accepted.
How to convert AI to PNG online
- Press "Choose AI files" and select one or more files, or drag them onto the box. Files up to 25 MB each can be converted.
- There are no settings to choose: the converter keeps everything the target format can hold.
- Press "Convert to PNG". The file is uploaded to our conversion server, converted in a few seconds, and deleted together with the result as soon as the result is sent back.
- Save each PNG with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your AI and the PNG by then.
Why convert AI to PNG?
AI files usually come from logos, illustrations and print artwork made in Illustrator. People convert them to PNG to share, print or place the picture anywhere: PNG opens on every phone and computer and keeps lines and text crisp, with no special program needed.
How to convert AI to PNG on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your AI files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each PNG is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the AI files from Finder onto the drop zone and the PNG files land in Downloads. Preview can do single images too: open the file, choose File, then Export, and pick PNG.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose AI files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted PNG appears in Files, in the Downloads folder; to put it in your photo library, open it there, tap Share and choose Save Image.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose AI files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The PNG is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for AI to PNG
There are no settings: the artwork is rendered at 300 dpi, cropped to its bounding box, with the longest side capped at 6,000 pixels.
For a result that stays sharp at any size, convert to PDF instead, which keeps the vectors.
AI vs PNG: the differences
| AI | PNG | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Adobe Illustrator artwork | Portable Network Graphics |
| Type | image | image |
| Created by | Adobe | the PNG Development Group |
| First released | 1987 | 1996 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| Transparency | Yes | Yes |
| Animation | No | No |
| Vector or raster | Vector | Raster |
| Colour | vector artwork in CMYK or RGB, which can also hold raster images | up to 16 bits per channel with a full alpha channel |
| In a browser | does not open in browsers; Illustrator opens it, and Inkscape, Affinity Designer and CorelDRAW import most AI files | opens in every browser and image viewer |
| Common uses | logos, illustrations and print artwork made in Illustrator | screenshots, logos, diagrams and anything with transparency |
| MIME type | application/postscript | image/png |
About AI and PNG files
What is an AI file?
Since Illustrator 9 an AI file is a PDF with Illustrator's own editing data added, which is why other programs can open it at all. A file saved with "Create PDF Compatible File" turned off has no PDF part, and only Illustrator can read it.
What is a PNG file?
PNG compresses without losing a single pixel, so screenshots and text stay razor sharp, but a photograph saved as PNG is often three to five times the size of the same photo as JPG.
AI to PNG not working? Common problems
- "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit. Compress the images inside the file, or split it, and try again.
- "The conversion took too long and was stopped." Very long or complex files can pass the 90 second limit. Split the file and convert the parts.
- The AI will not convert. It may be damaged, or try to do something the converter blocks for safety, such as reading other files.
Convert AI to PNG from the command line
This page uses Ghostscript, which is free for Windows, Mac and Linux. The same conversion from the command line:
gs -dSAFER -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=png16m -r300 -sOutputFile=page-%02d.png input.aiConverting on your own computer keeps the file entirely local, which is worth it for very large or very sensitive documents. For everything else, the converter on this page does it without installing anything.
AI to PNG converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting AI to PNG?
The artwork is rendered to pixels at 300 dpi, which is sharp for print at the artwork's own size. The pixels are stored losslessly.
Why is the PNG a different size from the AI?
The PNG stores every pixel, while the AI stores drawing instructions, so the PNG is usually larger for detailed artwork and can be smaller for simple ones.
Are my AI files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A faithful AI to PNG conversion needs Ghostscript and MuPDF, two open-source tools, which cannot run in a browser. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted in a private temporary folder, and is deleted together with the PNG as soon as the result has been sent back to you. We do not keep, read or share it.
Can I convert several AI files to PNG at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like; they are converted one after another and each gets its own download button.
How do I open a PNG file?
PNG opens in every browser and image viewer. PNG is common for screenshots, logos, diagrams and anything with transparency.
Is this AI to PNG converter free?
Yes. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Because this conversion uses our server, there is a fair-use limit of 25 MB per file and a number of files per hour, which stops the service being overloaded.
Can I convert AI to PNG on my phone?
Yes. It works in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android. The conversion happens on our server, so it is as fast on a phone as on a computer; the PNG is saved to your Downloads folder.