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Exporting Plots to PDF - Matplotlib

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

When working with visualizations in Matplotlib, we often need to save plots in PDF format for reports, presentations, or printing. Matplotlib provides a simple way to export high-quality plots using the savefig() function, ensuring clear and professional-looking outputs. Let’s explore the best methods to export plots to PDF.

The easiest way to export a Matplotlib plot as a PDF is by using the savefig() function. This method allows us to save our figure with high quality in just one line.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt  

# Create a simple plot  
plt.plot([1, 2, 3, 4], [10, 20, 25, 30], marker='o', linestyle='--', color='b')  
plt.title("Sample Plot")  

# Save the plot as a PDF  
plt.savefig("plot.pdf", format="pdf")  

# Show the plot  
plt.show()

Output:

Explanation:

• plt.plot(...) creates a simple line plot with markers.
• plt.title(...) adds a title to the plot.
• plt.savefig("plot.pdf", format="pdf") saves the figure as a PDF file.
• plt.show() displays the plot.

By default, the file is saved in the directory where the script is running. If you want to save it in a specific location, provide the full path:

plt.savefig("C:/Users/YourName/Documents/plot.pdf", format="pdf")

If we need to save multiple plots in a single PDF file, Matplotlib provides PdfPages, which allows us to store multiple figures in one document.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt  
from matplotlib.backends.backend_pdf import PdfPages  

# Create a PDF file to store multiple plots  
with PdfPages("multiple_plots.pdf") as pdf:  
    # First plot  
    plt.figure()  
    plt.plot([1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], marker='o', linestyle='--', color='r')  
    plt.title("Plot 1")  
    pdf.savefig()  # Save the first plot  
    plt.close()  # Close the figure  
    
    # Second plot  
    plt.figure()  
    plt.bar(["A", "B", "C"], [10, 20, 30], color="g")  
    plt.title("Plot 2")  
    pdf.savefig()  # Save the second plot  
    plt.close()  # Close the figure  

Explanation:

• PdfPages("multiple_plots.pdf") creates a PDF file to store multiple plots.
• plt.figure() initializes a new figure for each plot.
• pdf.savefig() saves the current figure into the PDF.
• plt.close() closes the figure to free memory.

By default, the file is saved in the directory where the script is running. To save it elsewhere, provide the full path:

with PdfPages("C:/Users/YourName/Documents/multiple_plots.pdf") as pdf:

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