QGIS 3 GeoPDF Issue – High-quality PDF Becomes Pixelated When Opened

georeferencingpdfqgis-3

I am currently working with a high-quality PDF file that displays perfectly when viewed in Adobe. However, when I import this file into QGIS for georeferencing, the quality significantly degrades and the image becomes pixelated.

I've tried various settings within QGIS to improve the image quality, but so far, I haven't had any success. I'm wondering if there might be a workaround within QGIS that I'm not aware of that might handle this type of high-quality PDF better for georeferencing purposes.

How can I maintain the original quality of the PDF when importing it for georeferencing in a GIS application?

Original file screenshot when opened in Adobe

enter image description here

Screenshot of the same area after importing to QGIS for Georeferencing:

enter image description here

EDIT: After converting to TIFF format with DPI set to a higher value

After converting to TIFF with DPI set to a higher value

Best Answer

Since QGIS uses GDAL to load PDF files, we could set an Windows/Linux/iOS environment variable GDAL-PDF-DPI=300 to increase the raster quality from 150dpi (default) to 300dpi.

Related Question