How many pages can it handle?

Publisher documents over 30-50 pages can be slow to convert because each page is rendered separately at high DPI. For long publications consider exporting to PDF first (if you have Publisher access) and using PDF-to-JPG which is faster page-by-page.

More about converting PUB to JPG

Microsoft Publisher (.pub) is the desktop publishing application included in some Microsoft Office Professional and 365 editions on Windows, used for newsletters, brochures, flyers, business cards, and church bulletins. Publisher has no native macOS, iOS, Android, or Linux client - it's Windows-only, which makes .pub files notoriously difficult to share. Recipients on Mac or mobile typically cannot open them without buying the Office Professional license and a Windows machine or VM. Converting PUB to JPG produces a universal preview that any image viewer can open.

The .pub format is proprietary, undocumented at the byte level by Microsoft, and only loosely supported by third-party tools. LibreOffice Draw can open Publisher 2003 and earlier files reasonably well via reverse-engineered importers, but later versions (Publisher 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019/365) have additional features that often fail to round-trip. The cleanest conversion path is to open the file in Publisher itself and use File > Export > Save as PDF, then run PDF-to-JPG. This converter routes through that pipeline server-side, rasterizing each page at the publication's page size.

Small businesses, churches, schools, and community organizations whose previous secretary used Publisher to create the weekly bulletin or quarterly newsletter are the typical audience. When the original .pub file is the only surviving copy and the recipient lacks Publisher, JPG-per-page is the safest universal output - works in email, web, mobile, and any document portal that accepts images. For ongoing editing migrate to Affinity Publisher (50 USD, Mac/Win, opens PUB via PDF intermediate) or Scribus (free, cross-platform, no native PUB support but excellent for new layouts).

When you'd use this

Reasons to convert PUB to JPG usually come down to compatibility, file-size, or specific feature requirements. Common situations:

  • An app or platform only accepts JPG uploads.
  • You need a feature unique to JPG (e.g. transparency, vector scaling, animation, multi-page pages, etc.) that PUB doesn't provide.
  • You're optimising file size — modern formats often produce smaller files than the older format you started with.
  • You need a single archival format across a project so files behave consistently in the same viewer.

How to do it in jpg.now

  1. Open the PUB → JPG tool on jpg.now.
  2. Drag your PUB file onto the drop zone, or click Select files. You can drop a whole folder of files at once.
  3. The output is fixed to JPG. If the format supports extra options (page size, transparency background, quality, EXIF stripping), tweak them in the right-hand panel.
  4. Click Convert. The job runs on our server and finishes in a few seconds for typical photos.
  5. Download the result. Files stay in storage for 24 hours and are then permanently deleted.

The entire flow is free for the first 10 jobs per day with no signup required. A free account doubles that quota; a premium plan removes the limit entirely.

Tips and common pitfalls

  • If you have access to Windows, open the file in Publisher and use File > Export > Create PDF/XPS Document for the cleanest export, then convert PDF to JPG.
  • LibreOffice Draw opens .pub files (Publisher 98-2003) on Mac and Linux via File > Open - imperfect but often usable as a preview.
  • Affinity Publisher 2 (Mac/Win/iPad) imports PDFs cleanly - export from Publisher to PDF on a Windows machine first, then continue editing in Affinity.
  • For one-off conversions without Windows access, this converter routes through a headless rendering pipeline that handles Publisher 2007-2019 files.
  • Migrate away from Publisher long-term to Affinity Publisher, Adobe InDesign, Scribus, or Canva for cross-platform team collaboration.
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