Screenshots that stay readable
PNG is the format your phone and computer use for screenshots, and it’s lossless: every pixel is kept exactly, so small text and thin lines stay sharp. That’s why we put PNGs into the PDF as they are, without turning them into JPG first. A screenshot of a payment confirmation or a chat looks just as crisp in the PDF as it did on your screen.
When people need this
- proof of payment, from banking or UPI apps, for a refund or a reimbursement claim;
- a conversation saved as evidence for a complaint or a dispute;
- an online order, a booking or an error message to send to support;
- slides or diagrams exported as images, put back together as a handout.
Pick the page size for screenshots
Phone screenshots are tall and narrow. On an A4 page they sit in the middle with wide white space at the sides and come out small when printed. Two ways to handle it:
- Same as image makes each page exactly the shape of its screenshot. Best for reading on screen and for sending on.
- A4 with the Small margin is better when someone will print it or the form asks for A4.
Laptop screenshots are wide, and the page turns to landscape to fit them.
Transparency
Some PNGs, like logos and stickers, have see-through areas. We keep the transparency only when an image actually has some, so the page behind shows through where it should.
Size
Lossless has a cost. A screenshot is usually small, but a photo saved as PNG can be several times bigger than the same photo as JPG. If your PDF comes out large, Compress PDF shrinks it. Screenshots of text keep their text readable down to quite small sizes.
Mixing in other images
This page accepts JPG, HEIC and the rest too, in one PDF. Images to PDF explains what happens to each format. For photos from a camera, JPG to PDF has tips on photographing documents.
Checked against the tool on 22 October 2026. How we write and test these guides