# Convert PDF to Grayscale

> Convert color PDF documents to grayscale (black and white) for printing or reduced file size. Keep the original. This tool downloads a clean copy alongside it.

Live tool: https://lofttools.com/tools/pdf-tools/pdf-grayscale

Category: PDF & Documents

## How it works

1. **Select PDF** — Drop the colour PDF you want greyscaled, or click to pick one
2. **Convert** — All colors are converted to grayscale tones
3. **Download** — Download your grayscale PDF instantly

## FAQ

### Does grayscale reduce file size?

Yes. Removing color information can significantly reduce file size, especially for image-heavy PDFs.

### Does this preserve bookmarks and form fields?

Yes. Conversion to grayscale only re-encodes color spaces; bookmarks, form fields, and annotations all carry through unchanged.

### What PDF versions are supported?

Grayscale conversion works on PDF 1.0 through 2.0. Colour spaces in the input are remapped to DeviceGray on output.

## Privacy — what we do not do

This tool runs entirely in the browser via WebAssembly. Your file never reaches a Loft Tools server. Specifically:

- **No upload.** The file bytes load into the browser tab's memory and process on your own CPU. Open DevTools → Network and observe zero outbound requests carrying file data while Convert PDF to Grayscale runs.
- **No AI training on your file.** Loft does not train models. We could not train on a file we cannot see.
- **No content scanning.** No virus, copyright, or content-moderation pass against your file. The bytes are not accessible to us.
- **No server-side log of file contents, filenames, or EXIF metadata.** Cloudflare edge captures URL and truncated IP for abuse defense (standard CDN behaviour). Cloudflare Web Analytics records anonymous page hits, no cookies, no PII. Nothing about your file content reaches any log.
- **No retention.** Close the tab and the file leaves browser memory. No backups exist on our side because no copy ever existed on our side.
- **No account.** No email, no signup, no auth, no telemetry tied to you.
- **Offline-capable after first visit** (PWA). Once you've loaded a tool, it caches; later sessions work without internet. For high-sensitivity files, run the tool once online to warm the cache, then disconnect before processing.

Compare with upload-based services: each transmits your file to a processing server. Even over HTTPS, each has logs, retention windows, and subpoena exposure. Loft has none of these because the server architecture does not include your file.

## More

- All tools: https://lofttools.com/tools
- Category: https://lofttools.com/tools/pdf-tools
- LLM index: https://lofttools.com/llms.txt