How do I convert a PRN file to PDF?

Question

I got a PRN file but I would to convert to PDF so that it will be easier for other people to access. How do I do that?

Answer 1

Typically, .prn is the suggested file extension on Windows when you use the "print to file" option in any program that can print it's content. Which printer driver is used to generate the .prn file depends on the printer you selected when printing (or on your default printer).

Typically, the real content behind that .prn extension therefor may vary as wildly as there are printer driver types available: PostScript (Levels 1, 2, 3), PCL (half a dozen types), ESC/P, ESC/P2, HP/GL, Prescribe, RPCS,.... you name it.

If your *.prn really is a PostScript, you can easily convert it with Ghostscript (or Acrobat Distiller) to PDF.

If your *.prn really is a PCL, you can also convert it, using another program from out of the Ghostscript stable, named GhostPCL.

Here are two example commandlines:

gswin32c.exe ^
    -dBATCH ^
    -dNOPAUSE ^
    -sDEVICE=pdfwrite ^
    -sOutputFile=output.pdf ^
    [...more Ghostscript CLI options as needed...] ^
    c:/path/to/input-which-is-postscript.prn

pspcl6.exe ^
    -dBATCH ^
    -dNOPAUSE ^
    -sDEVICE=pdfwrite ^
    -sOutputFile=output.pdf ^
    [...more Ghostscript CLI options as needed...] ^
    c:/path/to/input-which-is-pcl.prn

For downloading source code of GhostPCL, see here: http://ghostscript.com/GhostPCL.html (no pre-compiled binaries available that I know of).

Answer 2

If you can print the file on Windows, you can install PDF printer driver such as CutePDF, which generates a PDF for you.

Answer 3

Typically PRN files are PostScript, but that is not always the case.

Two links for PostScript reference,

• doc2pdf
• Creating PDF files from Sibelius using Ghostscript and GSview

Answer 4

A PRN file, which is short for printer, is being generated by a postscript printer. now, in order to convert it to pdf, you need to install first a postscript printer (has PS in its name so you would know). Print the doc by selecting 'print to file'. After that, you'll need a pdf conversion utility. Adobe Acrobat will do by simply selecting "Create PDF" and locate your .ps file to change it to PDF format.

If you have other issues with this file, you may check this article on file extension prn for further guidance.

Answer 5

(1) Use GhostScript and its helpers, see http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/. Or (2) rename the .prn to .ps and use CreatePDF.adobe.com to convert to PDF for free (up to three tries).