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Need help?Convert PostScript (PS) to PDF Online — Free, No Watermark
To convert PS to PDF, upload your .ps (or .eps) file to our servers, pick a quality preset (Screen, Ebook, Printer, or Prepress), and click Convert. The PostScript is distilled into a fixed-layout PDF — fonts, vector graphics, and page layout intact — that opens in any browser or reader, then you download the finished file.
Real result: a legacy .ps print file — which Windows, macOS, and mobile can't open natively — becomes a searchable, vector-preserving PDF that loads in any browser or reader, with fonts and graphics intact. For the reverse, use PDF to PostScript.
How to Convert PostScript to PDF Online
- Upload Your PS File: Click "+ Add Files" or drag and drop one or more
.ps(or.eps) files into the upload area. Multi-file batch is supported. - Pick a Compression Type: Default is Screen (Best) — small files, 72 DPI raster downsampling, ideal for digital reading. Choose Ebook for 150 DPI, Printer for 300 DPI, or Prepress for 300 DPI color plus 1200 DPI monochrome with thumbnails and full color preservation. These map to the documented Ghostscript
PDFSETTINGSpresets used by theps2pdfpipeline. - Convert: Click "Convert." Each PS file is interpreted page by page and written out as a multi-page PDF on our servers — no Ghostscript install, no command line, no manual font handling.
- Download: Save individual PDFs or grab the ZIP for batch jobs. Files are removed automatically after a short retention window — no sign-up, no watermark.
Why Convert PostScript to PDF?
PostScript (.ps) is a Turing-complete page-description language Adobe released in 1984. For two decades it was the lingua franca of professional print: RIPs, imagesetters, and laser printers all spoke it. PDF, introduced by Adobe in 1993 and standardized as ISO 32000-1 in 2008, is "based on the PostScript language" but ships as a fixed-layout, viewer-friendly container. Converting moves a legacy print artifact into a format every modern OS, browser, and reader can open.
- No native viewer on modern OSes — Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android have no built-in PostScript renderer. Opening a
.psrequires Ghostscript, GSview, or a third-party tool. PDF opens in Preview, Edge, Chrome, Acrobat Reader, and every mobile reader without extra software. - LaTeX and TeX output — Older TeX workflows (
dvips→.ps) still produce PostScript intermediates. Modern publishers, arXiv, and journal submission portals require PDF/A or PDF/X, so the.pshas to be flattened first. - Unix and scientific archives — Government archives, university repositories, and pre-2010 Unix toolchains (
enscript,groff,lpr-to-file) stored documents as PostScript. Migrating them to PDF makes them indexable, searchable, and shareable. - Print-server legacy — Older drivers and "Print to File" workflows on Windows and Linux emit
.psor.prn. Converting to PDF preserves the exact prepress layout while making the file shareable via email and cloud storage. - Email and messaging caps — Gmail's 25 MB attachment limit and Outlook's 20 MB default both accept PDFs natively for preview; PostScript attachments often trip spam filters and never preview inline.
- Combining with other PDFs — Once your
.psis a PDF you can merge it with invoices, scans, or signed forms using Merge PDF, or shrink it further with Compress PDF.
PostScript vs PDF — Format Comparison
| Property | PostScript (.ps) | |
|---|---|---|
| First released | 1984 (Adobe) | 1993 (Adobe); ISO 32000-1 in 2008 |
| Type | Page-description / programming language | Fixed-layout document container |
| Random page access | No — pages must be interpreted sequentially | Yes — cross-reference table indexes every page |
| Native viewer on Windows/macOS/iOS | None — requires Ghostscript or third-party tool | Built in (Preview, Edge, Quick Look, Safari) |
| Compression | Optional, weak by default | Flate, JPEG, JPEG2000, JBIG2 built in |
| Interactive features | None | Forms, annotations, hyperlinks, attachments |
| Searchable text | Sometimes (depends on generator) | Yes, with full Unicode text layer |
| Common file size | Larger — uncompressed instructions | Smaller — downsampled and Flate-compressed |
| Current usage | Legacy print, TeX intermediates, archives | De facto standard for digital documents |
Compression Preset Cheat Sheet
These names match Ghostscript's PDFSETTINGS flags, which ps2pdf and our converter both use:
| Preset | Color/grayscale DPI | Mono DPI | Best for | Approx. file size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen (Best) | 72 | 300 | Web, email, on-screen reading | Smallest |
| Ebook | 150 | 300 | Tablets, e-readers, draft proofs | Small |
| Default | Mixed | Mixed | General-purpose when use case is unknown | Medium |
| Printer | 300 | 1200 | Office laser/inkjet output | Larger |
| Prepress | 300 | 1200 | Commercial prepress, CMYK preservation, includes thumbnails | Largest |
DPI values are documented in the official Ghostscript pdfwrite reference. Raster images already below the target DPI are not upsampled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't my computer open a .ps file directly?
Neither Windows, macOS, iOS, nor Android ship with a PostScript interpreter. macOS removed Preview's native .ps preview years ago — it now silently converts via the system Ghostscript at print time only. To view a .ps locally you need Ghostscript plus a front-end like GSview, MuPDF, or Okular. Converting to PDF skips all of that.
Are EPS files supported here?
Yes. EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) is a single-page, self-contained variant of PostScript designed for embedding into other documents. Our converter accepts .eps alongside .ps. If you need EPS specifically routed through the PDF pipeline, Convert EPS to PDF is the dedicated page for that flow.
How does this compare to running ps2pdf locally?
ps2pdf is a thin shell script that calls Ghostscript with -sDEVICE=pdfwrite. Our pipeline is the same underlying technology — same compression presets, same font embedding, same color handling — but without installing a ~50 MB Ghostscript distribution, configuring PATH, or managing command-line flags. Output quality is equivalent.
Will fonts be embedded?
Yes, when they are present in the PostScript stream. PostScript files frequently embed Type 1, TrueType, or CFF fonts; our converter passes those through into the PDF so the output renders identically on any device. If a font is referenced but not embedded (a common issue with old .ps files), Ghostscript substitutes a metric-compatible default — the layout stays the same but the glyphs may look different.
Why is my output PDF larger than the original PS?
Two reasons. (1) PostScript is often stored uncompressed because the original was meant to stream to a printer — converting to PDF with the Prepress preset preserves every pixel and keeps file size high. (2) Some .ps files reference external resources that get embedded into the PDF. Switch to Screen (Best) or Ebook for smaller output, or run the result through Compress PDF.
Can I go the other direction — PDF back to PostScript?
Yes. Some print workflows still need a .ps for an older RIP or imagesetter. Use Convert PDF to PS for that direction. Note that converting PDF → PS rasterizes interactive features (forms, annotations, JavaScript) since PostScript has no equivalent.
Are PDF/A or PDF/X output profiles supported?
Not from this page. The PDF written here is a standard, broadly compatible PDF (ISO 32000) suitable for general viewing, sharing, and printing. For archival (PDF/A) or print-production (PDF/X) profiles you'll need Adobe Acrobat Pro, callas pdfaPilot, or veraPDF — these enforce stricter rules around font embedding, color spaces, and metadata that go beyond a one-click conversion.
Does converting preserve vector graphics?
Yes. PostScript drawing operators (moveto, lineto, curveto, fill, stroke) map directly to PDF's content-stream operators. Vector art stays vector — it remains crisp at any zoom level. Only raster images embedded in the PostScript are subject to the DPI downsampling rules above.
How big a PS file can I convert?
The web app handles single files up to several hundred megabytes in practice; very large prepress jobs (multi-gigabyte sets of .ps files from imagesetters) are better split before upload. For batch jobs, you can queue dozens of files at once and download a ZIP of the PDFs.
Can I convert a PS to JPG instead of PDF?
Yes — though the PDF route is usually cleaner. If you need page-by-page raster output, convert to PDF first, then use Convert PDF to JPG to extract images at a chosen resolution.
How much smaller is the Screen preset than Prepress?
In our testing, the Screen (Best) preset (72 DPI image downsampling) produces a noticeably smaller PDF than Prepress (300 DPI plus CMYK preservation) on the same .ps source — often several times smaller when the file is image-heavy, since Prepress keeps full-resolution rasters. For text-and-vector PostScript the gap shrinks, because vector operators are preserved identically at every preset and only embedded raster images are downsampled. Start with Screen for email and on-screen reading, and only step up to Printer or Prepress when you'll actually print at high resolution.