What happens when you convert HTML to PDF
- The page is opened in Chromium, the open-source browser behind Chrome, on our conversion server, and printed to PDF on A4 pages with 1 cm margins, or at the page size its own CSS sets with @page. Backgrounds and colours are printed, text stays selectable and links keep working.
- For your safety and ours, the page is opened with no network access at all. Everything inside the file is shown: its text, inline CSS, scripts, and images embedded as data. Anything it would fetch from the web, such as linked stylesheets, web fonts and remote images, is not loaded, so save the page as a single file (in Chrome, Save as, then "Webpage, Single File") if it depends on them.
- 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 HTML to PDF online
- Press "Choose HTML 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 PDF". 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 PDF with its download button. Our server has already deleted both your HTML and the PDF by then.
Why convert HTML to PDF?
HTML files usually come from web pages, emails and documents meant to be read in a browser. People convert them to PDF because a PDF looks the same on every device and is what forms, portals and printers ask for.
In short, HTML is good at what it was made for, and PDF is the more practical choice when the file has to open, upload or print somewhere else. HTML opens in every web browser, while PDF opens in every browser's built-in viewer.
How to convert HTML to PDF on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android
On Windows
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, drag your HTML files in from File Explorer, and press Convert. Each PDF is saved to your Downloads folder.
On a Mac
Safari, Chrome and Firefox all work. Drag the HTML files from Finder onto the drop zone and the PDF files land in Downloads.
On iPhone and iPad
Open the page in Safari and tap Choose HTML files. You can pick from Photos or from the Files app. The converted PDF appears in Files, in the Downloads folder.
On Android
Open the page in Chrome, tap Choose HTML files and pick them from Files or your gallery. The PDF is saved to the Download folder, where any file manager can find it.
Best settings for HTML to PDF
There are no settings here; the page decides. A4 with 1 cm margins is used unless the page sets its own size with a CSS @page rule, and print styles (@media print) apply, just as when you print from a browser.
For the best result, make the HTML self-contained: inline its CSS and embed its images as data URIs, or save it from Chrome as "Webpage, Single File". Fonts from Google Fonts or other web services are replaced with fonts installed on our server.
HTML vs PDF: the differences
| HTML | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | HyperText Markup Language | Portable Document Format |
| Type | document | document |
| Created by | Tim Berners-Lee | Adobe |
| First released | 1993 | 1993 |
| Compression | Lossless | Lossy or lossless |
| Transparency | n/a | No |
| Animation | n/a | No |
| Vector or raster | n/a | Vector |
| Colour | n/a | any colour, pages can mix text, vectors and images |
| What it holds | text with tags for headings, lists, links, tables and images | any colour, pages can mix text, vectors and images |
| In a browser | opens in every web browser | opens in every browser's built-in viewer |
| Common uses | web pages, emails and documents meant to be read in a browser | documents, forms, invoices and print-ready files |
| MIME type | text/html | application/pdf |
About HTML and PDF files
What is an HTML file?
HTML is the language of web pages. A converted document saved as HTML keeps its headings, lists, tables and links and opens in any browser.
What is a PDF file?
A PDF fixes the layout of every page so it looks the same on any device. Converting a PDF to an image renders each page to pixels; converting an image to PDF wraps it as a page.
HTML to PDF not working? Common problems
- "Files up to 25 MB can be converted." Server conversions have a size limit. Compress the images in the document, or split it, and try again.
- "The conversion took too long and was stopped." Very long or complex documents can exceed the time limit. Split the document and convert the parts.
- The document will not convert. It may be password protected, damaged, or saved in a newer or unusual version of the format.
Convert HTML to PDF from the command line
This page uses LibreOffice. Installed on your computer, it converts from the command line without opening a window:
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf input.htmlConverting 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.
HTML to PDF converter FAQ
Will I lose quality converting HTML to PDF?
Text stays sharp and selectable at any zoom, because Chromium prints it as text rather than as a picture. Anything the page would load from the web is missing, by design.
Why is the PDF a different size from the HTML?
An HTML file holds only text and markup, while the PDF embeds the fonts it uses, so the PDF is usually larger, typically tens to a few hundred kilobytes.
Are my HTML files uploaded?
Yes, for this conversion. A web page cannot save another page as a PDF file, so the HTML is rendered by Chromium, the open-source browser behind Chrome, on our conversion server. The file travels over an encrypted connection, is converted in a private temporary folder, and is deleted together with the PDF as soon as the result has been sent back to you. We do not keep, read or share it.
Can I convert several HTML files to PDF 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 PDF file?
PDF opens in every browser's built-in viewer. PDF is common for documents, forms, invoices and print-ready files.
Is this HTML to PDF 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 HTML to PDF 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 PDF is saved to your Downloads folder.