A WhatsApp to PDF converter accepts the ZIP or TXT file that WhatsApp's built-in Export Chat menu produces and turns it into a formatted PDF with sender names, timestamps, and media inline. I built ChatToPDF to do exactly that: upload the export, see a free preview of message count and price, pick a tier ($7 and up), and download the PDF.
How the converter works
The WhatsApp to PDF converter runs entirely in the browser — nothing to install. The input is the file that WhatsApp's own Export Chat menu produces: either a .txt for a text-only export, or a .zip when you chose Including Media.
Export the chat from WhatsApp
Open WhatsApp and navigate to the chat you want to convert. On iPhone: tap the contact or group name at the top → scroll to Export Chat near the bottom → choose Without Media (text only) or Including Media (text + photos + voice notes). On Android: tap the three-dot menu → More → Export Chat → pick your option. WhatsApp produces either a
.txtfile (Without Media) or a.ziparchive (Including Media). Save it to your phone's Files app or iCloud Drive. The WhatsApp chat export guide covers this step in detail for both platforms.Upload the ZIP or TXT to chattopdf.app
Open chattopdf.app in any browser — mobile or desktop. Drag and drop the
.zipor.txtonto the upload zone, or tap to open a file picker. The converter validates the file immediately: it checks that the archive contains a_chat.txtin the expected WhatsApp format before proceeding. Invalid files or non-WhatsApp archives are rejected at this stage.Review the free preview — no payment yet
After validation, the converter parses the export and shows you a free summary: total message count, detected senders, date range, and an itemised price based on the tier you hover over. You can also see a rendered snippet of the first few messages in your chosen PDF style. This is the step where you confirm the encoding parsed correctly — especially useful for Arabic, Hebrew, or emoji-heavy chats. No card details are entered at this point.
Select a tier and pay once
Pick the tier that matches what you need (see the table below). Payment is one-time per chat — no subscription, no recurring charge. After payment, the converter processes the full export and the download link appears on screen. An email with the same link is sent to the address you provide, so you don't lose access if the browser tab closes.
What formats it outputs
Every conversion produces at minimum a formatted PDF. The $29 Premium tier and above also produce an XLSX spreadsheet and a CSV file as part of the same bundle.
PDF is the primary output. The PDF is fully searchable, properly paginated, and includes a header with the chat name and date range on every page. Each message is attributed to the sender with the timestamp. Four visual styles are available at all tiers: Green Bubble (closest to the WhatsApp app UI), Clean (recommended for legal and HR use), Formal (letterhead header, deposition-style layout), and Book (continuous prose, no bubbles). All four styles are available regardless of tier.
XLSX is a row-per-message spreadsheet with columns for timestamp, sender name, message body, and a media flag. It's useful for filtering by sender, sorting by date, or doing message-frequency analysis in Excel or Google Sheets.
CSV is the same data as XLSX but in plain comma-separated format, compatible with any data tool that ingests tabular data.
The tier table below shows which features each tier includes:
| Tier | Price | Message cap | Images inline | XLSX + CSV | Voice transcription |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $7 | 5,000 | No — placeholders | No | No |
| Standard | $14 | 25,000 | Yes — inline | No | No |
| Premium | $29 | No cap | Yes — inline | Yes | No |
| Premium+Voice | $49 | No cap | Yes — inline | Yes | Yes — Deepgram Nova-3, up to 8 hrs audio |
| Power User | $99 | No cap | Yes — inline | Yes | Yes — uncapped, priority queue |
Voice transcription converts each .opus voice note in the ZIP to readable inline text, placed at its exact position in the conversation. The $49 Premium+Voice tier covers up to 8 hours of audio per chat; the $99 Power User tier is uncapped and runs in the priority processing queue. Both use Deepgram Nova-3 — 17 high-accuracy languages plus 30+ auto-detected. The WhatsApp voice to text guide covers the transcription step in detail, including accuracy by noise level and the full language list.
The full story behind the converter — PDF styles, how the parser handles date formats and encoding edge cases, and a side-by-side comparison against alternative methods — is in the WhatsApp to PDF guide. If your first question is whether any free online option exists, the WhatsApp to PDF converter online free guide covers exactly that.
Speed and file handling
In my testing, a typical chat of a few hundred to a few thousand messages converts in well under a minute from upload to download-ready. The processing time scales with message count and media volume — a chat that includes dozens of large images or many voice notes takes longer than a text-only export of the same message count.
The converter handles .txt files (from the Without Media export) and .zip files (from the Including Media export) without any conversion step on your end. Both are uploaded directly to the converter.
For large chats — tens of thousands of messages, hundreds of megabytes of media — the converter processes the full export without truncating, at the $29 Premium tier and above. The $7 Basic tier caps at 5,000 messages and $14 Standard caps at 25,000; beyond those limits the output is truncated at the cap. If you have a long group chat and are unsure which tier you need, the free preview step shows the total message count before you commit to a tier.
After the PDF renders, the download link appears on-screen and is sent to the email you provided. If you close the browser before the render completes, the email delivery means you don't need to re-upload.
Privacy and 7-day deletion
When you're converting a personal conversation, knowing exactly what happens to the file matters. Here is the full picture.
Upload: The file travels over HTTPS (TLS 1.3) from your browser to the servers. It is never transmitted unencrypted.
Storage: The uploaded file is stored on an AWS S3 bucket with AES-256 server-side encryption at rest. Access to raw files is restricted to the automated processing pipeline — no human download path exists through the normal interface.
Processing: The conversion is entirely automated. No person reads your messages. The parser, the PDF renderer, and the Deepgram transcription pipeline (where applicable) run without human intervention. For voice transcription, Deepgram receives only the audio bytes of the .opus files — not the chat text. Deepgram's API policy prohibits training on API-submitted data by default.
7-day deletion: Both the source file (your upload) and the output PDF are automatically deleted seven days after the job is created. This is a scheduled job that runs against every record older than seven days — there are no manual exceptions, and the deletion applies to both paid and unpaid jobs equally.
No account required. You do not create a profile or log in to use the converter. The only personally identifiable information stored is the email address you provide for download delivery.
For more on privacy, retention policy, and data handling, the WhatsApp to PDF guide includes the full privacy section with the step-by-step breakdown of what happens at each stage.
FAQ
Is the WhatsApp to PDF converter free?
The converter is free to try — you upload the chat and get a full preview of message count, senders, date range, and the formatted output before paying anything. Generating and downloading the actual PDF requires a one-time payment per chat: $7 Basic, $14 Standard, $29 Premium, $49 Premium+Voice, or $99 Power User. There is no subscription and no recurring charge.
Does it work for iPhone and Android exports?
Yes. Both iPhone and Android WhatsApp export the same _chat.txt format inside the ZIP (or as a standalone .txt). The converter accepts files from either platform. The export path is slightly different on each — iPhone uses the contact name tap → Export Chat; Android uses the three-dot menu → More → Export Chat — but the resulting file is the same and processes identically. The WhatsApp chat export guide covers both export paths with step-by-step instructions.
What does the PDF include?
The PDF includes every message with the sender name, the timestamp, and the message text. On the $14 Standard tier and above, images and document thumbnails appear inline at the position they were sent. On the $49 Premium+Voice tier and above, voice notes are transcribed and appear as readable text at their correct position in the conversation. The PDF is fully searchable and paginated, with a header on each page identifying the chat and date range. Four visual styles are available at all tiers: Green Bubble, Clean, Formal, and Book.
Is my chat data safe?
Your file is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256 on AWS S3). The conversion runs entirely on automated software — no person reads your messages. Both the source file and the output PDF are automatically deleted 7 days after the job is created. Deepgram receives only voice note audio bytes (not the chat text) if you use the $49+ voice transcription tier. No account creation is required.
Do I need to download an app?
No. The converter runs in any browser — mobile Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Samsung Internet. You access it at chattopdf.app and upload the export file directly from your phone or computer. There is no desktop application, no browser extension, and no app to install. The output PDF is delivered on-screen and by email.
Key takeaways
- A WhatsApp to PDF converter turns the export ZIP from your phone into a formatted, sender-attributed PDF — no desktop app or USB cable needed.
- ChatToPDF previews message count, senders, and price for free before you pay anything.
- Five tiers from $7 to $99 per chat, one-time payment — no recurring billing.
- Output formats are PDF (all tiers), XLSX, and CSV ($29 Premium and above).
- Voice notes are transcribed inline on the $49 Premium+Voice tier using Deepgram Nova-3 — 17 high-accuracy languages, 30+ auto-detected.
- Source files and output PDFs are automatically deleted 7 days after conversion — no data kept beyond that.
- Works on both iPhone and Android exports; accepts
.zipand.txtfiles directly from WhatsApp's Export Chat menu.
I'm Paul. I built ChatToPDF after watching a friend try to print a 4-year-old WhatsApp chat across forty-something one-page PDFs. I write here about exporting WhatsApp chats, converting them to PDF, transcribing voice notes, and the messy edge cases nobody else writes about (40,000-message export limits, broken emojis, RTL Arabic, Samsung Secure Folder).