formatika

Convert DOC to PDF

We turn DOC into PDF right in your browser — the file never goes to a server.

What you will lose

Nothing important: the target format does everything the source does.

How they differ

DOCPDF
Losslessyesyes
Lossynoyes
Released19831993
AuthorMicrosoftAdobe

DOC

Good at

  • Opens in any Word from 1997 onwards
  • Holds everything written before 2007
  • One file is the whole document, with no external parts

Awkward about

  • Binary: nothing but an editor gets the content out
  • Different editors lay it out differently
  • Keeps edit history and author details that are easy to forget about

Use it when

  • The file came out of an archive or an old back office system
  • The recipient runs Word 2003 and is not upgrading
  • There is no reason to write new files in it — only to read and move on

PDF

Good at

  • Looks the same everywhere: fonts, margins and line breaks are fixed
  • The one format any office will accept without argument
  • Holds text, vectors and photographs in a single file

Awkward about

  • Hard to edit: it is a format for reading, not for changing
  • Weight depends on what is inside — a scanned page can weigh as much as a book
  • Text inside a scan stays a picture until something recognises it

Use it when

  • The document is being sent, printed or filed somewhere official
  • The layout must not shift on someone else’s device
  • Loose pages need to become one file

Common questions

Does the file get uploaded to a server?
Yes, this pair needs the server: browsers cannot encode that format. The file and the result are deleted within a couple of hours and never shared.
Can I get the original quality back afterwards?
Yes, PDF supports lossless compression, so you can go back to the original.
How many files, and how large?
Up to 5 files at a time, 50 MB each. No sign-up, no watermarks.

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