PDF report is converted to a XLS report. Why is that?

When a PDF report is generated then the number of cells is calculated before the final report is generated.

 

If the report contains more than > 50k cells then the report is converted as a XLS file instead.

The XLS format is a more usable format for a report with that amount of data

 

If the report contains less than < 50k cells then the report is generated as a PDF file.

 

This is a limitation defined in the report generator.