The first artboard of an Illustrator document as one vector PDF page, at the size it was drawn.
An AI document is tied to the program that wrote it. A PDF is the same artwork in a file every desk can open.
A PDF opens in a browser tab, a phone, an email preview and a print portal. That makes it the natural format for approving a layout, sending artwork to a customer or handing a file to a printer who asked for something printable.
The page is rebuilt from the shapes in the document, not from a picture of them, so a logo inside it can be zoomed to any size without softening and the whole file stays light. Text stays text where the font is available, so a headline can still be selected and searched.
The artboard is a real measurement in points, and the PDF page keeps it. Print at 100% and the artwork comes out at the size the designer set, which is what a label, a card or a sign needs.
One page the size of the first artboard, built from the drawing rather than a picture of it.
The page is cropped to the artboard the designer worked in, so there is no sheet of paper around the artwork and no margin to trim. A 200 × 100 pt artboard gives a page roughly 70 × 35 mm, and every other artboard in the document is left out.
Paths, gradients and placed pictures come across as they were composed. Where the font is present, letters stay selectable text rather than outlines, which makes the PDF easier to search and to proof than a picture of the same page.
A PDF stores coordinates instead of dots, so 72, 150 and 300 dpi all give the same page. The control stays visible because this is the same converter as the picture pages, but a vector answer is unaffected by it.
The download is a single PDF carrying the name of the file you uploaded, ready to be sent, printed or placed in another document. Passwords and permissions are not added: the file opens on its own.
Illustrator can save a document in two shapes, and only one of them carries a page other programs can read.
With that box ticked, Illustrator writes a complete PDF inside the .ai file and appends its own editable data to it. This converter reads that page and returns it as a plain PDF. Illustrator ticks the option by default, so most documents are ready as they are.
Without that option the file is Illustrator-only, and the readable part is a page saying so, which is why the result comes back blank. Re-save the document with Create PDF Compatible File switched on, or use File → Export → Export As and choose PDF: that export already is the file you wanted.
Documents saved by Illustrator 8 or earlier are PostScript programs, not PDF containers. They are read as PostScript here and converted to a PDF page like any other file, so an older archive is not a problem.
Points define the page; dpi only matters once the artwork becomes a picture.
Illustrator measures in points and the PDF page keeps those numbers, so the artwork prints at the size it was drawn. There is no paper preset involved and nothing scales the drawing up or down on the way.
Because the page holds shapes rather than a pixel grid, a detail viewed at 1000% or printed on a large format printer stays sharp. That is the difference between this page and a PNG or a JPG of the same artboard.
A PDF cannot be pasted into a chat window or a web form that expects an image. When that is the destination, AI to PNG renders the artboard at 72, 150 or 300 dpi, and PDF to PNG does the same for the PDF afterwards.
What the conversion can and cannot reach inside an Illustrator document.
A document with several artboards returns the first one and nothing else. To get every version out, use File → Export → Export As in Illustrator and let it write one PDF per artboard; each of those converts here on its own, which is also the quickest route.
A conversion has a wall-clock limit, and a document with hundreds of thousands of paths, a big placed photograph or heavy effects may pass it and stop with a message rather than a half-written page. Exporting the single artboard you need first keeps the run short.
Three steps, no account and no software to install.
Drop it on the box or click to browse. One file per run, up to 25 MB. Files ending in
.ai are accepted even when the browser labels them a generic binary, and a PDF or
an EPS works just as well here.
PDF is already the chosen format and the page takes its size from the artboard, so there is no paper size, margin or resolution worth setting. Start the conversion straight away.
The result keeps the name of your document with a .pdf extension, opens in any viewer and prints at the size the artwork was drawn.
Small checks that keep a print hand-off clean.
Objects parked outside the artboard, unused symbols and leftover guides do not belong in a file that goes to a printer. Delete them in Illustrator first: the page gets cleaner and the PDF smaller.
The PDF is the format to send, but it is not the working document: artboards, layers and editable text live in the .ai file. Keep both, and convert again when a new version is ready.
A printer who wants PostScript will prefer an EPS, which SVG to EPS can produce from a vector export of the same artwork. For a logo used on a website, the SVG from AI to SVG is lighter and sharper than any PDF.
Yes. Converting costs nothing: no account, no subscription, no watermark and no cap on how many documents you convert. A short rate limit is the only restriction, so the converter stays responsive for everyone using it.
The page is the artboard itself, so nothing is padded onto A4 or US Letter. A 200 × 100 pt artboard becomes a page of roughly 70 × 35 mm, which prints at that size and takes that space when it is placed in another document.
No. The document is read on the server and the PDF opens in any viewer, so neither step needs the program. AI files saved with Create PDF Compatible File are handled through the PDF page inside them, and documents from version 8 or earlier are read as PostScript.
Each upload may be 25 MB, one file per run, because the whole document is held while the page is built. A file that size is usually an artboard with a large placed photograph, and the PDF-compatible part inside the .ai is often bigger than the artwork alone.
Files are processed on our server and not stored. The document is opened once, the PDF page is returned and nothing is kept, so the download that reaches your browser is the only copy of the result and no account is involved.
