RapidHow Many Pages Is 1MB PDF? Page Counts From 1MB to 1GB
Page counts for 1 MB, 2 MB, 5 MB, 10 MB, 25 MB and 1 GB PDFs, for plain text, mixed, image-heavy and scanned documents.
How many pages is 1MB PDF? It depends on what is on the pages. 1 MB holds about 20 pages of plain text, about 5 pages of text with images or charts, and about 2 image-heavy pages, but only about 2 pages of a document scanned in color at 300 DPI.
The table below gives the same answer for 2 MB, 5 MB, 10 MB, 25 MB and 1 GB. Every figure comes from the formula used by the PDF File Size Calculator, so this page and the calculator always agree.
How Many Pages Fit in 1 MB, 2 MB, 5 MB, 10 MB, 25 MB and 1 GB
These are typical estimates at medium quality. They use the calculator's size per page: 0.05 MB for plain text, 0.2 MB for mixed content (text with images or charts), 0.5 MB for image-heavy pages and 0.5 MB for scanned pages (a typical 300 DPI color scan). 1 GB is counted as 1,024 MB.
| PDF Size | Plain Text | Mixed (Text + Images) | Image-Heavy | Scanned (300 DPI, color) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 MB | 20 pages | 5 pages | 2 pages | 2 pages |
| 2 MB | 40 pages | 10 pages | 4 pages | 4 pages |
| 5 MB | 100 pages | 25 pages | 10 pages | 10 pages |
| 10 MB | 200 pages | 50 pages | 20 pages | 20 pages |
| 25 MB | 500 pages | 125 pages | 50 pages | 50 pages |
| 1 GB | 20,480 pages | 5,120 pages | 2,048 pages | 2,048 pages |
Real files can be smaller or larger, depending on the fonts, the images and the program that created them. To estimate a specific document, enter its page count, content type and quality in the PDF File Size Calculator.
Why Scanned Pages Are So Much Bigger
A scanner saves each page as a picture, recording every dot on the page, even the blank white space. A text page stores only the letters and the font, so it takes far less space: a page scanned in color at 300 DPI is about 10 times bigger than a page of plain text. A black and white scan is much smaller, about 30 to 150 KB per page at 300 DPI, so 1 MB holds roughly 7 to 30 black and white scanned pages.
What Changes the Page Count
- Images: photos, charts and logos add the most size. A page with a chart is about 4 times bigger than a plain text page, and an image-heavy page is about 10 times bigger.
- Scans: every scanned page is a picture, so color scans hold about as few pages per MB as image-heavy pages. A higher scan resolution (DPI) makes each page bigger, and black and white makes it much smaller. See the scan size table for size by resolution and color mode.
- Fonts: embedded fonts add a little size, but much less than images.
- Quality: low quality makes pages about half the size of medium quality, and high quality about twice the size (about three times for scans). So 1 MB holds about 40 pages of plain text at low quality, but only about 10 at high quality.
Is Your PDF Too Big?
If your file is too big to email or upload, compress it. The free Compress PDF tool shrinks the images inside your PDF right in your browser, and the file is never uploaded. Scanned and image-heavy PDFs usually shrink the most. For email limits, see how to compress a PDF under 10MB for Gmail.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pages is 1 MB in a PDF?
About 20 pages of plain text, about 5 pages of text with images or charts, about 2 image-heavy pages, or about 2 scanned pages (300 DPI, color). These are typical estimates at medium quality, using the same per-page sizes as the PDF File Size Calculator.
How many pages is 2 MB in a PDF?
About 40 pages of plain text, about 10 pages of text with images or charts, about 4 image-heavy pages, or about 4 scanned pages (300 DPI, color). These are typical estimates at medium quality.
How many pages is 10 MB in a PDF?
About 200 pages of plain text, about 50 pages of text with images or charts, about 20 image-heavy pages, or about 20 scanned pages (300 DPI, color). That is why a long text report fits easily under an email limit of 10 MB, while a longer color scan may not.
How many PDF pages fit in 1 GB?
1 GB is 1,024 MB, so it holds about 20,480 pages of plain text, about 5,120 pages of text with images or charts, about 2,048 image-heavy pages, or about 2,048 scanned pages (300 DPI, color). These are typical estimates at medium quality.
Why is my PDF so big when it has only a few pages?
The pages are probably scanned in color or full of photos. A scanned page is saved as a picture, so a color scan can be about 10 times bigger than a page of plain text. High scan resolution (DPI) and high quality settings make it bigger still, while scanning in black and white makes it much smaller. To make the file smaller, use the free Compress PDF tool.