Convert EML to PDF online — headers, pictures and attachments intact
An EML file is a single email saved in the standard Internet message format (RFC 5322 with MIME). The EML to PDF converter opens it in your browser and produces a clean PDF: a header block with sender, recipients, date, subject and attachments, then the message itself with its formatting and embedded pictures.
You get .eml files from Gmail (open a message, ⋮ → Download message), from Thunderbird and Apple Mail (drag a message to the desktop or use File → Save As), and from Outlook on the web and Windows Mail. As PDFs they open on any device, print reliably and are accepted by portals that only take PDF uploads.
Nothing is uploaded. The file is decoded by the open-source postal-mime parser (MIT-0) on your own device, and scripts or tracking pixels inside it are neutralised before anything is displayed.
How to convert EML to PDF
- Drop one or more .eml files on the upload area, or press Try a sample email to see how it works.
- Check the preview. The line above it says how many remote images were blocked and how many scripts were removed.
- Pick the page size (A4, US Letter, Legal, A5 or A3), the margins, and whether attachments are embedded in the PDF or only listed.
- For several files, choose separate PDFs, delivered as one ZIP, or a single bookmarked PDF.
- Press Download PDF, or Print to PDF to use your browser’s own print engine.
EML to PDF features
Full MIME decoding
multipart/alternative, mixed and related messages; quoted-printable and base64 bodies; RFC 2047 encoded subjects and names; RFC 2231 file names.
Every common character set
UTF-8, ISO-8859-1 to -16, Windows-1250 to -1258, Shift_JIS, ISO-2022-JP, GBK, Big5, EUC-KR and KOI8-R, decoded with your browser’s TextDecoder.
Inline images from cid: links
Pictures attached to the message and referenced by Content-ID are placed exactly where the sender put them.
Attachments embedded
Attached files are stored inside the PDF unchanged and listed in the header block with clickable names.
Apple Mail .emlx too
Files from Apple Mail’s storage folders, which carry an extra byte count and metadata, are read as well.
What is inside an EML file?
An .eml file is plain text. It starts with header lines — From, To, Cc, Date, Subject, Message-ID and the Received lines added by each mail server — then a blank line and the body. MIME packs several parts into that body: a plain-text and an HTML version of the same message, pictures referenced by Content-ID, and attachments encoded in base64.
Non-English text is encoded twice over. Header words such as =?UTF-8?B?…?= follow RFC 2047, and body text uses quoted-printable or base64 with a declared character set. The converter undoes all of it, so subjects in Hindi, Polish or Japanese come out correctly.
Converting EML to PDF on a phone
- Android: save the .eml from your mail app, open this page in Chrome, tap the upload area and pick the file. The PDF lands in Downloads.
- iPhone and iPad: save the .eml to the Files app, choose it from the upload area in Safari, then tap the downloaded PDF to share or print it.
- Wide HTML newsletters are laid out at page width and scaled down when they are wider, so nothing is cut off.
If something looks wrong
- Garbled characters usually mean the email declared the wrong character set. The preview shows what the PDF will contain, so check it first.
- Missing pictures are normally remote images. Tick “Load remote images” if you trust the sender; the layout works either way.
- Hindi, Chinese or emoji are drawn as images in Download PDF. Use Print to PDF when you need them as selectable text.
- Whole mailboxes (.mbox) are easiest in Email to PDF; Outlook files in MSG to PDF. Want text instead? Try Email to TXT.
EML to PDF FAQ
What is an EML file and how do I open it?
EML is the standard file format for a single email. Windows Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird and Apple Mail open it, and a text editor shows its raw content. To read or share it without an email program, convert it to PDF here.
How do I convert EML to PDF for free?
Drop the .eml file on this page and press Download PDF. You can convert many files at once, and there is no watermark, account or limit.
Are the attachments in my EML file kept?
Yes. They are embedded in the PDF unchanged and listed in the header block. Pictures shown inside the message are drawn on the page as well.
Is my email uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read and converted entirely in your browser. Only the open-source libraries and the Noto Sans font are downloaded from public CDNs.
Why are some images missing from my PDF?
Images hosted on the sender’s server are blocked by default because they can track you. Tick “Load remote images” before converting to include them; pictures that are part of the email itself always appear.
Does the PDF have selectable text?
Yes. Download PDF places real text in the Noto Sans font, so Latin, Greek and Cyrillic text can be searched and copied. For other scripts, Print to PDF keeps everything as text.