Invert PDF Colors
Flip a PDF to light text on a dark background for comfortable night reading, with the option to leave photos and diagrams untouched.
Upload PDF File
About This Tool
Reading a bright white PDF on a screen at night is tiring, and unlike a web page a PDF has no dark mode of its own. Inverting the colours produces light text on a dark background you can read for an hour without squinting.
The inversion is applied to the page content, so the file itself is dark - it stays dark in any reader, on any device, including e-readers that have no dark mode setting.
The option to preserve images is worth using. Inverting a photograph turns it into a negative, which is rarely what anyone wants. Leaving images alone inverts the text and background while photos and logos keep their real colours.
How to Use
Load your PDF
Drop in the document you want to darken.
Decide about images
Turn on preserve images to keep photos and diagrams in their original colours while the text inverts.
Check a page
The preview shows the inverted result so you can confirm the contrast is comfortable.
Convert and download
Save the dark version. Your original stays as it was.
Use Cases
Reading in bed
A 400-page dark-background novel or paper, easier on the eyes than a white page at full brightness.
E-reader comfort
Devices with no dark mode will still display a PDF that is already dark.
Light sensitivity
Readers with migraine or photophobia often find inverted contrast the difference between readable and not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the text still selectable?
Yes. Only the rendered colours change; the text layer, search and copy-paste are unaffected.
Why did my photos come out looking strange?
They were inverted along with everything else. Re-run with preserve images enabled.
Can I invert it back?
Running the tool on an inverted file returns it close to the original, though any lossy image re-encoding will not undo perfectly. Keeping your original is safer.
Should I print the inverted version?
Almost certainly not - it would use an enormous amount of toner. Print the original and keep the inverted copy for screens.