This program is part of Netpbm.
ppmtopgm reads a PPM as input and produces a PGM as output. The output is a "black and white" rendering of the original image, as in a black and white photograph. The quantization formula ppmtopgm uses is g = .299 r + .587 g + .114 b.
Note that although there is a pgmtoppm program, it is not necessary for simple conversions from pgm to ppm , because any ppm program can read pgm (and pbm ) files automatically. pgmtoppm is for colorizing a pgm file. Also, see ppmtorgb3 for a different way of converting color to gray. And ppmdist generates a grayscale image from a color image, but in a way that makes it easy to differentiate the original colors, not necessarily a way that looks like a black and white photograph.
Cold-hearted orb that rules the night Removes the colors from our sight Red is gray, and yellow white But we decide which is right And which is a quantization error.