PDF Tools Guide: Merge, Split, Compress & Convert PDFs
📖 7 min read · Images & Media · Try PDF Merge →
What is PDF?
PDF (Portable Document Format) was created by Adobe in 1993 and became an open standard (ISO 32000) in 2008. It is the most widely used format for sharing documents because it preserves formatting, fonts, images, and layout regardless of the operating system, software, or hardware used to view it.
PDFs are used for contracts, invoices, reports, forms, ebooks, presentations, and any document that needs to look identical on every device. Understanding how to manipulate PDFs is an essential skill for developers and business users alike.
Merging PDFs
PDF merging combines multiple PDF files into a single document. This is useful for combining chapters of a report, merging invoices for accounting, combining scanned documents, or assembling a portfolio from multiple files.
When to merge PDFs:
- Combining monthly reports into an annual report
- Merging multiple invoices for a client into one file
- Assembling a multi-chapter document from separate files
- Combining scanned pages into a single document
- Creating a portfolio from multiple project PDFs
Our PDF Merge tool lets you upload multiple PDFs, arrange them in any order, and download the combined file — all in your browser without uploading to any server.
Splitting PDFs
PDF splitting extracts specific pages or page ranges from a PDF into separate files. This is useful when you receive a large document and only need specific sections, or when you need to share individual pages without revealing the entire document.
Common split scenarios:
- Extracting a single page from a multi-page contract
- Splitting a 100-page report into individual chapters
- Extracting specific pages to share with different teams
- Separating a combined invoice PDF into individual invoices
Compressing PDFs
PDF compression reduces file size by optimizing images, removing embedded fonts that are not needed, and compressing content streams. Large PDFs are problematic for email attachments (most email providers have 10-25MB limits), slow to load in browsers, and consume excessive storage.
Typical compression results:
- • Scanned document (10MB) → 2-3MB (70-80% reduction)
- • Photo-heavy report (5MB) → 1-2MB (60-70% reduction)
- • Text-only document (500KB) → 400KB (20% reduction)
PDFs with many high-resolution images compress the most. Text-only PDFs are already compact and compress less.
Converting PDFs
PDF to JPG
Converts each PDF page to a JPG image. Useful for creating thumbnails, sharing pages as images, or editing PDF content in image editing software. Each page becomes a separate image file.
Try PDF to JPG →JPG to PDF
Combines multiple JPG images into a single PDF. Perfect for converting scanned photos, screenshots, or image collections into a shareable document format.
Try JPG to PDF →PDF to Word
Converts PDF to an editable Word document (.docx). Useful when you need to edit the content of a PDF. Text, images, and basic formatting are preserved.
Try PDF to Word →PDF Security & Privacy
When working with sensitive PDFs (contracts, financial documents, medical records), privacy is critical. Many online PDF tools upload your files to their servers for processing, which creates privacy and security risks.
All DevBench PDF tools process files entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your files are never uploaded to any server, ensuring complete privacy. This is possible thanks to the pdf-lib library which runs entirely client-side.