Resolution
96, 150 or 200 dpi.
Higher resolution improves sampled detail at a memory cost.Black & white PDF
Apply a threshold to turn scanned page pixels into black or white. Adjust the setting to make printed text stand out from a light background.
Drop your PDF file here
Choose a file to get started.
Files stay on your device No sign-up Free to use
How it works
Choose a representative scan
Choose a PDF.
Balance threshold and resolution
Select resolution and a black-and-white threshold.
Check faint marks and punctuation
Convert and inspect faint text, stamps and handwriting.
Black & white PDF
Optimize
Apply a black-and-white threshold to scanned pages
Clean a lightly shaded invoice scan
An invoice scan has a gray paper background, a faint approval stamp and small decimal points in the totals. Start at threshold 160 and 150 dpi. Raise the threshold if the stamp vanishes, then inspect whether the background becomes too noisy. Use grayscale when no single threshold retains all important marks.
✓ Inspect the lightest handwriting, decimal points and stamps. Compare a noisy page and a clean page before relying on one threshold for the document.Make it work for your document
Options after selecting a fileThreshold
A value from 0 to 255.
Higher values retain more dark detail and background noise.Frequently asked questions
The details, when you need them.
Will this remove every scan shadow?
No. Uneven lighting may need more advanced image cleanup.
Is the output a strictly one-bit archival image?
No. It uses thresholded page images with JPEG encoding.
Set a threshold for your scan
Pixels darker than the threshold become black, while lighter pixels become white before image encoding. A higher setting keeps more dark detail but can also retain background noise. A lower setting can clean a background while losing faint writing. Test a representative page before processing a large scan.
Do not confuse cleanup with recognition
This tool changes appearance; it does not recognize text or correct tilted pages. Output pages are JPEG-encoded images, so compression may introduce slight edge tones. Original links, form fields and selectable text are not preserved. Use OCR separately when searchability matters.
Check the saved result
Inspect the lightest handwriting, decimal points and stamps. Compare a noisy page and a clean page before relying on one threshold for the document.
JPEG output is not one-bit archival data
Output uses thresholded images encoded as JPEG, not a strict one-bit archival format. Selectable text and interactive features are lost.
Faint writing disappears
Its pixels are lighter than the threshold. Raise the threshold and recheck; use grayscale if cleanup still loses information.