Convert JPG or PNG to PDF on Mac

1. Double-click the JPG or PNG. It opens in Preview.
2. Choose File > Export as PDF…
3. Name it, pick a folder, click Save.

The same steps work for PNG, TIFF and HEIC. If Export as PDF is missing in your macOS version, use File > Print, then the PDF menu at the bottom left, then Save as PDF.

Yes. sips ships with macOS and writes PDF directly.

sips -s format pdf photo.jpg --out photo.pdf

# every JPG in the folder
for f in *.jpg; do sips -s format pdf "$f" --out "${f%.jpg}.pdf"; done

Each image becomes its own one-page PDF. More on the command in the sips command guide.

We tested this. A 1600 × 1200 pixel JPEG converted with sips gave a one-page PDF with a 1600 × 1200 point page, and a 279,372 byte file from a 275,425 byte JPEG. The page took the pixel size. When we set the JPEG to 300 dpi first, the page stayed 1600 × 1200 points. So a phone photo becomes a very large page, far bigger than Letter (612 × 792 points) or A4.

That is fine for viewing and uploading. For printing or a form that wants Letter, scale it when you print, or put the image on a Letter page with Preview’s Print dialog (Paper Size, then Scale to Fit).

If a form wants an 8.5 × 11 inch page, fit the picture onto a Letter canvas. In Preview, open File > Print, set Paper Size to US Letter, choose Scale to Fit, then PDF > Save as PDF. If you have ImageMagick installed (it is not part of macOS), one command does it:

magick photo.jpg -resize 612x792 -background white -gravity center -extent 612x792 -units PixelsPerInch -density 72 letter.pdf

On our 1600 × 1200 test image that wrote a page of exactly 612 × 792 points, with the photo centered on white. The file came out at 50,803 bytes, because the photo was also scaled down to fit. Use 595x842 for A4.

iPhone photos are usually HEIC. Preview exports those to PDF the same way, or convert them first with HEIC to JPG on Mac if the receiving site rejects them.

In our test, a PNG with a transparent background converted with sips produced a 23,642 byte PDF. The transparency is kept as an alpha channel in the page, so a viewer shows the page background through it. If you need a solid white background, put the logo on a white canvas first. If the PNG is the wrong format for another reason, see PNG to JPG on Mac.

A PDF made from a JPG is about the size of the JPG, so a 12 megapixel photo gives a multi-megabyte PDF. Shrink the image first, then convert. Our image compression comparison covers the options. To shrink a PDF that already exists, see how to compress a PDF on Mac.

For one or two images, Preview is enough and free. For a script, sips is faster than any app. Smol takes longer per file than a sips loop.

Smol earns its price when you have a mixed folder of JPG, PNG, HEIC and TIFF files, want PDFs without Terminal, or want the work done from a Finder right-click with nothing uploaded. Drop the files in, choose PDF, and each gets a PDF copy beside it. It does not merge images into one PDF. Smol is $29, once, for one Mac. The best image converter for Mac roundup has the full comparison.