Export pdf file with embedded pictures to jpg format

Hello @Pierre_6.1,

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out, and sharing the details. We're sorry for any trouble you had while using the product.

Could you please share more details about the issue, and the workflow?

Are you using the Acrobat Pro desktop app, or the freeware Acrobat Reader? Are you on Windows machine, or Mac?

We checked an verfied your Adobe ID (email) which you have used to login to the community platform, and see that it is associated with an Organization, and with a license/subscription of Acrobat Pro Teams.

Please note that redaction and Export to image are Acrobat Pro features, so assuming you are using the Acrobat Pro desktop app with the latest build: 26.001.21789 Out of cycle update, Aug 11, 2026.

Suggestions:

1. Higher-quality JPG export

The resolution control is not on the main export dialog, it is behind a Settings button. Go to Menu > Export To > Image > JPEG, and in the Save As dialog click Settings (the gear). There you can raise the resolution and set the Grayscale/Color quality to the highest level. You can also set these as defaults in Edit > Preferences > Convert From PDF > JPEG > Edit Settings, so every export uses them.

Please note that you cannot add detail that is not in the file. The exported JPG can only be as sharp as the embedded images' own resolution, so if the source pictures are, say, 150 dpi, exporting at 300 or 600 dpi will not make them sharper, it just makes a bigger file. If the page still looks average at maximum quality, the embedded images themselves are the ceiling. A quick way to check what you are working with is All tools > Print Production > Preflight (or Output Preview) to see the actual image resolution.

2. Redaction lowering quality

The quality drop is not from the white fill, it is from the "Sanitize and remove hidden information" step that Acrobat runs when you apply redactions. Sanitizing rasterises the page and recompresses it (Acrobat removes overlapping content by default), and that re-compression is what softens your embedded JPGs.

When you click Apply, untick "Sanitize and remove hidden information." The redactions are still applied and permanent; you just skip the page-wide recompression. (You can sanitize separately later if you actually need to strip hidden metadata.)

Or set Menu > Preferences > Documents > and choose "Do not remove overlapping content while Sanitizing document," which prevents the rasterise/recompress.

If you do need to reduce hidden data, redact first, then use Menu > File > Save As Other > Optimized PDF, which lets you control the image compression rather than accepting the automatic setting. Avoid Reduce File Size, which recompresses images with no meaningful control.

For more details, you can also refer to these help articles, and try the suggestions:

https://adobe.ly/4ijOOwV

https://adobe.ly/4gmIp1t

I hope this helps, and please reach out if you experience any issues or need any assistance.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

[edited response]