diff --git a/ai_ta_backend/image_extraction.py b/ai_ta_backend/image_extraction.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..04c66e22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ai_ta_backend/image_extraction.py
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import os
+import fitz
+from docx import Document
+from pptx import Presentation
+from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
+
+def extract_images_from_pdf(pdf_doc, s3_path):
+    """
+    Extracts images from a pdf file and stores them in a folder.
+    """
+    print("Extracting images from pdf...")
+
+    try:
+        filename = s3_path.split("/")[-1]
+        course_name = s3_path.split("/")[-2]
+        # check for images directory
+        image_dir = "extracted_images"
+        folder_name = "images_from_" + filename 
+        print("folder name: ", folder_name)
+
+        if not os.path.exists(image_dir):
+            print("Creating directory for extracted images...")
+            os.makedirs(image_dir)
+        
+        if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(image_dir, folder_name)):
+            print("Creating directory for extracted images from this pdf...")
+            os.makedirs(os.path.join(image_dir, folder_name))
+        folder_path = os.path.join(image_dir, folder_name)
+
+        for i in range(len(pdf_doc)):
+            for img in pdf_doc.get_page_images(i):
+                xref = img[0]
+                base = os.path.splitext(pdf_doc.name)[0]
+                pix = fitz.Pixmap(pdf_doc, xref)
+                if pix.n < 5:
+                    pix.save(os.path.join(folder_path, "page%s-%s.png" % (i, xref)))
+                else:
+                    pix1 = fitz.Pixmap(fitz.csRGB, pix)
+                    pix1.save(os.path.join(folder_path, "page%s-%s.png" % (i, xref)))
+                    pix1 = None
+                pix = None
+        return "Success!" 
+    except Exception as e:
+        return "Error extracting images from pdf: " + str(e)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ai_ta_backend/vector_database.py b/ai_ta_backend/vector_database.py
index 5302e760..e38e4496 100644
--- a/ai_ta_backend/vector_database.py
+++ b/ai_ta_backend/vector_database.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 from ai_ta_backend.extreme_context_stuffing import OpenAIAPIProcessor
 from ai_ta_backend.utils_tokenization import count_tokens_and_cost
 
+from ai_ta_backend.image_extraction import extract_images_from_pdf
 
 class Ingest():
   """
@@ -478,6 +479,10 @@ def _ingest_single_pdf(self, s3_path: str, course_name: str, **kwargs):
         ### READ OCR of PDF
         doc = fitz.open(pdf_tmpfile.name)  # type: ignore
         
+        # extract all images from the pdf
+        result = extract_images_from_pdf(doc, s3_path)
+        print("Image extraction result:", result)
+
         # improve quality of the image
         zoom_x = 2.0  # horizontal zoom
         zoom_y = 2.0  # vertical zoom
@@ -485,21 +490,11 @@ def _ingest_single_pdf(self, s3_path: str, course_name: str, **kwargs):
 
         pdf_pages_OCRed: List[Dict] = []
         for i, page in enumerate(doc):  # type: ignore
-          # image extraction 
-          print("extracting image")
-          d = page.get_text("dict")
-          blocks = d['blocks']
-          img_blocks = [b for b in blocks if b['type']==1]
-          print(img_blocks[0])
-          exit()
-
-
           # UPLOAD FIRST PAGE IMAGE to S3
           if i == 0:
             with NamedTemporaryFile(suffix=".png") as first_page_png:
               pix = page.get_pixmap(matrix=mat)
               pix.save(first_page_png)  # store image as a PNG
-
               s3_upload_path = str(Path(s3_path)).rsplit('.pdf')[0] + "-pg1-thumb.png"
               first_page_png.seek(0)  # Seek the file pointer back to the beginning
               with open(first_page_png.name, 'rb') as f: