Import of PDF > Considerations Regarding the Ouput File Format

pdftoppm can export to three different file formats:

•PPM, which is a 24-bit true color bitmap format (default)

•PGM, which is a 8-bit gray value bitmap format

•PBM, which is a 1-bit monochrome bitmap format

For pgm, specify „-gray“ on the command line.

For pbm, specify „-mono“ on the command line.

The lower the color resolution, the smaller are the generated bitmap files and the faster they can be processed by VPE for previewing and printing. When printed, the monochrome format has also a better contrast than the other two formats.

As a rule of thumb, export PDF to the monochrome format whenever possible, i.e. when the PDF does not contain colors.