High quality pdf to eps

Question

I have always used pgfplot of latex to produce figures(.pdf format). Now, the journal in which I want to publish wants my figures to be in eps format.

I tried converting pdf to eps using pdftops -eps fig.pdf fig.eps. But the resulting eps file is of poor quality.

Original figure (in .pdf format)

Converted figure (in .eps format)

What is the right procedure to create eps file that is the same quality as my input pdf file?

EDIT

As per PooyaRaki recommendations: Inkscape option output(.eps)

Ghostscript option(.eps format)

Acrobat reader option output (.ps format)

Acrobat reader seems to work the best among the three.

Apthorp

Actually, it looks like Ghostscript produced the best result as Acrobat reader changed the colors. – Janeejaneen

GSView also works by clicking "Convert" and then the options "ps2write" and "600" resolution. I am relieved, as I am submitting a manuscript to PRL that requires EPS figures, and wasn't sufficiently adept with TeXstudio to alter the resulting pdf to eps there (although I've read that is its default?!). Thomas – Rubenstein

I got good results with ipe: ipe.otfried.org – Presentational

It's crazy to see that none of the recommended tools can convert the image without a problem. How can there still be someone requiring images in this format if there is no way to use it to produce images of acceptable quality? – Sousaphone

Answer 1

I recommend the following tools:

• Inkscape (Vector graphic editor, free & multi-platform)

  Can be either used using the GUI (open PDF, save as EPS) or using the command line (tested under Linux only):

   inkscape input.pdf --export-filename=output.eps
  

• Acrobat Reader (Linux Version) + ps2eps (TeXLive)

   acroread -toPostScript input.pdf
   ps2eps input.ps
  

• Ghostscript (multi-platform) Note: -dNOCACHE is needed to prevent GhostScript from rastering the fonts.

   gs -q -dNOCACHE -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER -sDEVICE=eps2write -sOutputFile=output.eps input.pdf
  

There are also the following tools. I didn't tested all of them and some raster the fonts :-( !

• ImageMagick convert (which might use Ghostscript itself. Calling it manually if more flexible and might avoid issues. convert might actually raster the PDF!)

   convert input.pdf output.eps
  

• pdf2ps (uses Ghostscript) + ps2eps (comes with TeXLive)

• pdftops (part of poppler), use the -eps switch for EPS output.

Note that EPS format does not handle transparency !

Svend

inkscape option performs no better-texts are not rendered correctly and Ghostcript option throws me an error saying Unknown device: epswrite. However, acrobat reader option works. The downside is that it dims the color(.ps format). – Apthorp

@SaravanaKumar epswrite is deprecated is newer versions try with eps2write – Svend

pdf2ps should be used with options -eps -level3, then it produces much higher-quality eps file. – Janeejaneen

@DmitryKabanov I receive Unknown switch -eps - ignoring and Unknown switch -level3 - ignoring with pdf2ps from ghostscript 9.22. You meant pdftops, right? With this, the options work but the resulting image is nevertheless a low quality image. – Oestradiol

@0range, yes, I meant pdftops, thanks for the correction. It is strange that you get a low-quality image as it works for me. Some readers don't use smoothing, probably, this is the reason. – Janeejaneen

From my experience inkscape (on linux) gives the best results here. Font rendering is not an issue if the corresponding font files are installed on your system. – Jasminejason

However when using pgfplot the best solution might be this one. – Jasminejason

For me, pdftops -eps -level3 is still leading to poor-quality (low-resolution rasterization of vector graphics) – Pneumogastric

inkscape is the best – Aeriell

Answer 2

The last answer is good, but ImageMagick doesn't necessarily raster the PDF. You can use: convert -density 600x600 inpute.pdf -quality 90 output.eps

Shears

Imagemagick always rasterizes a vector input. You cannot convert vector to vector in Imagemagick, even with the command from @WenZhou – Michel