Create a Penpot document that includes large scale images, gradients, or clipping masks.
Export the document or board as PDF
The images are excessively compressed and gradients are needlessly rasterised since PDF supports vector gradients. Masks also don’t function as expected.
I know that the image blurryness has been reported before, but it’s been over two years and the PDF export feature has seen no improvement. I think about 90% of my exports from Penpot are PDF either as slides or as website prototypes.
This coupled with the performance worries renders Penport sadly unusable for me. Whenever I finally get to using it professionally I experience a deal breaker. Please take this seriously.
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We recognize that the PDF export feature is a key part of your workflow and understand the frustration regarding image quality and performance. While this is indeed a known area, we have done some work on it in the past year. However, given the technical complexity involved, it’s not a current priority for our team. Your input is valuable, and we’ll certainly keep it in mind as we consider future improvements.
Thank you for your timely reply. I understand that you have other priorities. Although PDF exporting has proven to be a more challenging task than expected, I have to wonder whether two years should have been enough time to finalise basic features before moving towards Penpot’s extensibility.
Sadly, given the lackluster state of the most basic design workflows, giving feedback or recommending Penpot cannot be a priority for me. I value your work in key areas, like bringing web concepts to design and bridging the gap between the two, but without a solid foundation or commitment to achieve it, I regrettably have to cease using or following Penpot from now on.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Improving Penpot’s existing features is an ongoing focus for us, and we even have a full dedicated team working to refine core functionalities, you can see the ongoing work here: Taiga
While PDF export hasn’t received priority compared to other areas, we understand that this feature is essential for your workflow. We appreciate your recognition of our efforts in bridging design and web concepts, and we hope to continue making meaningful improvements in the future. Your feedback is valuable, and we’ll certainly take it into account as we evolve.
I’ve brought this issue to the team’s attention, and I’ve got an update. We are in the process of rewriting the rendering engine, which will ultimately impact how things are exported. This overhaul will give us the opportunity to rethink and hopefully correct the issues you’ve mentioned. You can read more about our rendering changes in this forum post:
We understand that the PDF export feature remains a significant concern for some users. While it’s currently not a top priority and likely to be addressed later in this process. You can follow it here:
Had the same Problem today. Most Clients also wants a PDF-File of the Layouts. If there are images in the Layouts, the PDF-Export is not usable, because of the heavy compressed images.
I used Penpot also for a small layout for a information paper with grid and flex layout for a Spec-Table and Reference Screenshots. Again no appealing PDF-Export.
I know Penpot is no DTP-Tool, but at the current state, the PDF-Export is only usable if there are no Pixel-Graphics involved.
JPG Export has a similar Problem with over-compressing. At the moment I find only PNG and SVG usable.
But good to hear that your changes to the rendering engine maybe also bring improvements to the Export-quality.
Not even for vectors! See my report about gradients being rasterised and masks being completely broken even though PDF supports these features. PDF export is just a mess. Don’t be misled into thinking you can use it on vector layouts. It’s completely unusable.
