The PDF Guide: File Size And Creation Time Tested

Benchmark Results: PDF Creation Time

Default Quality

The 115-page PowerPoint roadmap can be converted into PDF format in only 23 seconds using Microsoft Office 2007 or later. Foxit Phantom 2.0 was also rather quick. Other solutions require around two minutes.

Our complex, 24-page PowerPoint 2007 presentation can be exported via the built-in feature very quickly at default settings. We should add that PDF image quality is more than acceptable. The other tools, save for Foxit Phantom 2.0, take much longer. Adobe’s Acrobat 9 Standard takes longest, at one minute and 42 seconds, without producing noticeably better visual quality at the default setting.

High Quality

The time required to create a high-quality PDF from the 115-page roadmap document varies a lot. It’s 36 seconds for Microsoft’s PDF Export, 1:06 on Foxit Phantom 2.0 (at the expense of huge file sizes), and around two minutes for Adobe’s Acrobat 9 or PDF Creator 1.0.1. FreePDF 4.0.2 is in between.

The 25-page PowerPoint 2007 presentation is ready first with PowerPoint PDF Export and takes longest on Adobe Acrobat 9.