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pdftocairo

Portable Document Format (PDF) to PNG/JPEG/TIFF/PDF/PS/EPS/SVG using cairo

pdftocairo [options] PDF-file [output-file]

pdftocairo converts Portable Document Format (PDF) files, using the cairo output device of the poppler PDF library, to any of the following output formats:

  • Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
  • JPEG Interchange Format (JPEG)
  • Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)
  • Portable Document Format (PDF)
  • PostScript (PS)
  • Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)
  • Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)

pdftocairo reads the PDF file, PDF-file, and writes to output-file. The image formats (PNG, JPEG, and TIFF) generate one file per page with the page number and file type appended to output-file (except when -singlefile is used). When the output format is a vector format (PDF, PS, EPS, and SVG) or when -singlefile is used, output-file is the full filename.

If the PDF-file is “-” , the PDF is read from stdin. If the output-file is “-” , the output file will be written to stdout. Using stdout is not valid with image formats unless -singlefile is used. If output-file is not used, the output filename will be derived from the PDF-file filename.

Not all options are valid with all output formats. One (and only one) of the output format options (-png, -jpeg, -tiff, -pdf, -ps, -eps, or -svg) must be used.

The resolution options (-r, -rx, -ry) set the resolution of the image output formats. The image dimensions will depend on the PDF page size and the resolution. For the vector outputs, regions of the page that can not be represented natively in the output format (eg translucency in PS) will be rasterized at the resolution specified by the resolution options.

The -scale-to options may be used to set a fixed image size. The image resolution will vary with the page size.

The cropping options (-x, -y, -W, and -H) use units of pixels with the image formats and PostScript points (1/72 inch) with the vector formats. When cropping is used with vector output the cropped region is centered unless -nocenter is used in which case the cropped region is at the top left (SVG) or bottom left (PDF, PS, EPS).

Generates a PNG file(s)
Generates a JPEG file(s)
Generates a TIFF file(s)
Generates a PDF file
Generate a PS file
Generate an EPS file. An EPS file contains a single image, so if you use this option with a multi-page PDF file, you must use -f and -l to specify a single page. The page size options (-origpagesizes, -paper, -paperw, -paperh) can not be used with this option.
Generate a SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file
Specifies the first page to convert.
Specifies the last page to convert.
Generates only the odd numbered pages.
Generates only the even numbered pages.
Writes only the first page and does not add digits.
Specifies the X and Y resolution, in pixels per inch of image files (or rasterized regions in vector output). The default is 150 PPI.
Specifies the X resolution, in pixels per inch of image files (or rasterized regions in vector output). The default is 150 PPI.
Specifies the Y resolution, in pixels per inch of image files (or rasterized regions in vector output). The default is 150 PPI.
Scales the long side of each page (width for landscape pages, height for portrait pages) to fit in scale-to pixels. The size of the short side will be determined by the aspect ratio of the page (PNG/JPEG/TIFF only).
Scales each page horizontally to fit in scale-to-x pixels. If scale-to-y is set to -1, the vertical size will determined by the aspect ratio of the page (PNG/JPEG/TIFF only).
Scales each page vertically to fit in scale-to-y pixels. If scale-to-x is set to -1, the horizontal size will determined by the aspect ratio of the page (PNG/JPEG/TIFF only).
Specifies the x-coordinate of the crop area top left corner in pixels (image output) or points (vector output)
Specifies the y-coordinate of the crop area top left corner in pixels (image output) or points (vector output)
Specifies the width of crop area in pixels (image output) or points (vector output) (default is 0)
Specifies the height of crop area in pixels (image output) or points (vector output) (default is 0)
Specifies the size of crop square in pixels (image output) or points (vector output) (sets -W and -H)
Uses the crop box rather than media box when generating the files
Generate a monochrome file (PNG and TIFF only).
Generate a grayscale file (PNG, JPEG, and TIFF only).
Use a transparent page color instead of white (PNG and TIFF only).
Use the specified ICC file as the output profile (PNG only). The profile will be embedded in the PNG file.
Generate Level 2 PostScript (PS only).
Generate Level 3 PostScript (PS only). This enables all Level 2 features plus shading patterns and masked images. This is the default setting.
Generate a file with variable page sizes and orientations (PS and PDF only). The size of each page will be the original page in the PDF file. If the output is PS the file will contain %%DocumentMedia and %%PageMedia DSC comments specifying the size of each page. Any specification of the page size via -paper, -paperw, or -paperh will get overridden as long as each page of the PDF file has a defined paper size.
Set the paper size to one of "letter", "legal", "A4", or "A3" (PS,PDF,SVG only). This can also be set to "match", which will set the paper size to match the size specified in the PDF file. -origpagesizes overrides this setting if the PDF file has defined page sizes.
Set the paper width, in points (PS,PDF,SVG only). -origpagesizes overrides this setting if the PDF file has defined page sizes.
Set the paper height, in points (PS,PDF,SVG only). -origpagesizes overrides this setting if the PDF file has defined page sizes.
By default, output is cropped to the CropBox specified in the PDF file. This option disables cropping.
Expand PDF pages smaller than the paper to fill the paper (PS,PDF,SVG only). By default, these pages are not scaled.
Don't scale PDF pages which are larger than the paper (PS,PDF,SVG only). By default, pages larger than the paper are shrunk to fit.
By default, PDF pages smaller than the paper (after any scaling) are centered on the paper. This option causes them to be aligned to the lower-left corner of the paper instead (PS,PDF,SVG only).
Adds the %%IncludeFeature: *Duplex DuplexNoTumble DSC comment to the PostScript file (PS only). This tells the print manager to enable duplexing.
Specify the owner password for the PDF file. Providing this will bypass all security restrictions.
Specify the user password for the PDF file.
Don't print any messages or errors.
Print copyright and version information.
Print usage information. (-help and --help are equivalent.)

The poppler tools use the following exit codes:

0
No error.
1
Error opening a PDF file.
2
Error opening an output file.
3
Error related to PDF permissions.
4
Error related to ICC profile.
99
Other error.

The pdftocairo software and documentation are copyright 1996-2004 Glyph & Cog, LLC and copyright 2005-2011 The Poppler Developers.

pdfdetach(1), pdffonts(1), pdfimages(1), pdfinfo(1), pdftohtml(1), pdftoppm(1), pdftops(1), pdftotext(1)