Convert PUB to APNG Online

PUB to APNG Converter

A .pub file is a Microsoft Publisher document — a page-layout file for newsletters, flyers, and brochures, not a normal image. This tool renders the layout to pixels and writes it into an animated PNG (APNG) container, and when you upload several documents together it assembles them into one page-flip loop that plays in any browser. It's a way to view, preview, or embed a .pub layout without owning Publisher — which matters now that Microsoft has set an end-of-support date of October 1, 2026 for the app.

How PUB to APNG Rendering Works

.pub is a page-layout format, so there is no "image" to copy — the converter has to render the Publisher document to raster pixels first, exactly like printing the page to an image. Fonts, colors, and layout are baked into those pixels, so the result is a faithful picture of the page, not an editable document. Sharpness is set by the Image resolution control rather than a DPI dial: this route exposes no render-DPI option, so pick the output dimensions you actually need. Frames come from the files you upload — with "Combine?" on Single animation, several uploaded documents flip past each other at the framerate you choose; upload one and you get a still image instead.

PUB Format at a Glance

APNG Format at a Glance

How to Convert PUB to APNG

1. Upload Your PUB Files: Drag and drop your .pub files or click "Upload." Upload several together to build a page-flip animation; a single document renders as a still image.
2. Set the Image Resolution: This is what decides how sharp the rendered layout is and how big the file gets — keep the original, pick a preset such as 1080p, scale by percentage, or type an exact Width x Height. Small text in a flyer needs generous dimensions to stay legible once it is pixels.
3. Choose the Framerate and Combine Mode: Pick a Framerate — 10 FPS cycles quickly, while 1 FPS (Slideshow) gives a readable page-flip that holds each layout for a full second. Under "Combine?", Single animation merges the uploads into one looping APNG; Individual files returns one APNG per document.
4. Convert and Download: Click "Convert" and download your APNG. No sign-up, no watermark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this edit the Publisher file or just render a picture of it?

It renders a picture. The output is an APNG — a flat raster image of how each page looks, with fonts and layout baked into the pixels. You can't re-edit the text or move objects afterward. If you need an editable result, convert to PDF instead and open that in a PDF or word-processing tool. APNG is the right pick when you want a self-contained, browser-playable preview of the layout.

How do I get an actual page-flip animation rather than one still?

Upload more than one document at once and leave "Combine?" on Single animation. Frames are built from the uploaded files, in upload order, and the Framerate decides the pace — 1 FPS (Slideshow) holds each layout for a readable second, 10 FPS cycles in under half a second. A single upload has nothing to sequence, so it returns a still image. The frames also need to share dimensions, because the assembler will not rescale them to match; set one Image resolution for the whole batch and it takes care of itself.

What resolution should I choose?

Match it to where the image will be seen, and err high — Publisher layouts are dense with small type, and once the page is pixels there is no reflowing it. For a quick on-screen preview of an A4 flyer, something around 1080p keeps headings and body text readable at a modest file size. If people will zoom in to read fine print, push the Width x Height higher. There is no separate DPI dial on this route, so Image resolution is the single sharpness control.

Why APNG instead of an animated GIF?

Color and transparency. APNG carries full 24-bit color (16.7 million shades) and 8-bit alpha, so the gradients, photos, and soft edges common in Publisher layouts stay clean. A GIF is capped at 256 colors per frame with on/off transparency, which forces dithering and a hard fringe around anti-aliased text. Since the PNG Third Edition became a W3C Recommendation on June 24, 2025, APNG is an official part of the PNG standard rather than an unofficial extension.

Will the APNG display everywhere?

In 95.94% of browsers, per current caniuse data — Chrome 59+, Firefox 3+, Safari 8+, Edge 79+, and Opera 46+ all play APNG natively. The small share that don't (mainly Internet Explorer) fall back gracefully: APNG stores its first frame as a standard PNG, so those viewers show a static image of the first layout instead of breaking.

Is converting my .pub files now actually necessary?

It's worth doing before Microsoft Publisher's support ends on October 1, 2026. After that date, Microsoft 365 subscribers lose access to the app entirely, and perpetual-license copies keep running only as unsupported software. Microsoft's own guidance is to convert existing .pub files to another format beforehand. APNG is a good choice when you want a visual, browser-ready snapshot of a layout; PUB to PDF is better when you need a print-faithful, searchable document. In our testing, three A4 Publisher flyers uploaded together with "Combine?" on Single animation and the Framerate at 1 FPS produced a readable page-flip APNG that looped correctly in Chrome and Firefox.

How do I make the output file smaller without a quality slider?

There isn't one on this route, and that is deliberate — APNG frames are written losslessly, so there is no quantization stage to turn down. That leaves the dimensional levers: scale the Image resolution down (halving both width and height quarters the pixel count, which is by far the biggest win), upload fewer documents, and lower the Framerate if you are combining several. After assembly we run a Zopfli-based APNG optimiser over the file automatically, but that is lossless recompression rather than a quality trade. For a genuine size target afterwards, compress APNG exposes a target file size and a quality percentage.

What happens to my file after converting?

Your .pub file is uploaded over an encrypted (TLS) connection and rendered on our servers, then deleted automatically after a few hours. There's no sign-up, no watermark, and files are never shared or made public.