pdftocairo(1) General Commands Manual pdftocairo(1)
NAME
pdftocairo - Portable Document Format (PDF) to
PNG/JPEG/TIFF/PDF/PS/EPS/SVG using cairo
SYNOPSIS
pdftocairo [options] PDF-file [output-file]
DESCRIPTION
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)
• Windows Printer
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. When -singlefile is
used with the image formats, the file type is appended to output-file.
When the output format is a vector format (PDF, PS, EPS, and SVG), out-
put-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 file-
name.
Not all options are valid with all output formats. One (and only one) of
the output format options (-png, -jpeg, -tiff, -pdf, -print, -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 op-
tions.
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).
OPTIONS
-png Generates a PNG file(s)
-jpeg Generates a JPEG file(s). See also -jpegopt.
-tiff Generates a TIFF file(s)
-pdf Generates a PDF file
-ps Generate a PS file
-eps 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 (-origpa-
gesizes, -paper, -paperw, -paperh) can not be used with this op-
tion.
-svg Generate a SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file
-print (Windows only) Prints to a system printer. See also -printer and
-printeropt.
If an output file is not specified, the output will be sent to
the printer.
The output file '-' can not be used with this option.
-printdlg
(Windows only) Prints to a system printer. Displays the print di-
alog to allow the print options to be modified before printing.
-f number
Specifies the first page to convert.
-l number
Specifies the last page to convert.
-o Generates only the odd numbered pages.
-e Generates only the even numbered pages.
-singlefile
Writes only the first page and does not add digits.
-r number
Specifies the X and Y resolution, in pixels per inch of image
files (or rasterized regions in vector output). The default is
150 PPI.
-rx number
Specifies the X resolution, in pixels per inch of image files (or
rasterized regions in vector output). The default is 150 PPI.
-ry number
Specifies the Y resolution, in pixels per inch of image files (or
rasterized regions in vector output). The default is 150 PPI.
-scale-to number
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).
-scale-to-x number
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).
-scale-to-y number
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).
-x number
Specifies the x-coordinate of the crop area top left corner in
pixels (image output) or points (vector output)
-y number
Specifies the y-coordinate of the crop area top left corner in
pixels (image output) or points (vector output)
-W number
Specifies the width of crop area in pixels (image output) or
points (vector output) (default is 0)
-H number
Specifies the height of crop area in pixels (image output) or
points (vector output) (default is 0)
-sz number
Specifies the size of crop square in pixels (image output) or
points (vector output) (sets -W and -H)
-cropbox
Uses the crop box rather than media box when generating the files
(PNG/JPEG/TIFF only)
-mono Generate a monochrome file (PNG and TIFF only).
-gray Generate a grayscale file (PNG, JPEG, and TIFF only).
-antialias
Set the cairo antialias option used for text and drawing in image
files (or rasterized regions in vector output). The options are:
default
Use the default antialiasing for the target device. This
is the default setting if -antialias is not used.
none Antialiasing is disabled.
gray Perform single-color antialiasing using shades of gray.
subpixel
Perform antialiasing by taking advantage of the order of
subpixel elements on devices such as LCD.
fast Hint that the backend should perform some antialiasing but
prefer speed over quality.
good The backend should balance quality against performance.
best Hint that the backend should render at the highest qual-
ity, sacrificing speed if necessary.
-transp
Use a transparent page color instead of white (PNG and TIFF
only).
-icc icc-file
Use the specified ICC file as the output profile (PNG only). The
profile will be embedded in the PNG file.
-jpegopt jpeg-options
When used with -jpeg, takes a list of options to control the jpeg
compression. See JPEG OPTIONS for the available options.
-level2
Generate Level 2 PostScript (PS only).
-level3
Generate Level 3 PostScript (PS only). This enables all Level 2
features plus shading patterns and masked images. This is the de-
fault setting.
-struct
If the input file contains structural information about the docu-
ment's content, write this information to the output file (PDF
only).
-origpagesizes
This option is the same as "-paper match".
-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 of each page to match the size specified in
the PDF file. If none the -paper, -paperw, or -paperh options are
specified the default is to match the paper size.
-paperw size
Set the paper width, in points (PS,PDF,SVG only).
-paperh size
Set the paper height, in points (PS,PDF,SVG only).
-nocrop
By default, printing output is cropped to the CropBox specified
in the PDF file. This option disables cropping (PS,PDF,SVG
only).
-expand
Expand PDF pages smaller than the paper to fill the paper
(PS,PDF,SVG only). By default, these pages are not scaled.
-noshrink
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.
-nocenter
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).
-duplex
Adds the %%IncludeFeature: *Duplex DuplexNoTumble DSC comment to
the PostScript file (PS only). This tells the print manager to
enable duplexing.
-printer printer-name
(Windows only). When used with -print, specifies the name of the
printer to be used, instead of the system default.
-printopt printer-options
(Windows only). When used with -print, takes a list of options to
be used to configure the printer. See WINDOWS PRINTER OPTIONS for
the available options.
-setupdlg
(Windows only). When used with -print, the printer properties di-
alog is displayed allowing the print settings to be modified be-
fore printing. The paper size selected in the print properties
dialog will be used except when -origpagesizes is specified.
-opw password
Specify the owner password for the PDF file. Providing this will
bypass all security restrictions.
-upw password
Specify the user password for the PDF file.
-q Don't print any messages or errors.
-v Print copyright and version information.
-h Print usage information. (-help and --help are equivalent.)
EXIT CODES
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.
JPEG OPTIONS
When JPEG output is specified, the -jpegopt option can be used to con-
trol the JPEG compression parameters. It takes a string of the form
"<opt>=<val>[,<opt>=<val>]". Currently the available options are:
quality
Selects the JPEG quality value. The value must be an integer be-
tween 0 and 100.
progressive
Select progressive JPEG output. The possible values are "y", "n",
indicating progressive (yes) or non-progressive (no), respec-
tively.
optimize
Sets whether to compute optimal Huffman coding tables for the
JPEG output, which will create smaller files but make an extra
pass over the data. The value must be "y" or "n", with "y" per-
forming optimization, otherwise the default Huffman tables are
used.
WINDOWS PRINTER OPTIONS
In Windows, you can use the -print option to print directly to a system
printer. Additionally, you can use the -printopt option to configure the
printer. It takes a string of the form "<opt>=<val>[,<opt>=<val>]". Cur-
rently the available options are:
source Selects the source paper tray to be used (bin). The possible val-
ues are "upper", "onlyone", "lower", "middle", "manual", "enve-
lope", "envmanual", "auto", "tractor", "smallfmt", "largefmt",
"largecapacity", "formsource", or a numeric value to choose a
driver specific source.
duplex Sets the duplex mode of the printer. The possible values are
"off", "short" or "long", indicating no duplexing, short-edge
binding, or long-edge binding, respectively. General option -du-
plex is a synonym of "duplex=long". If both options are speci-
fied, -printopt has priority.
AUTHOR
The pdftocairo software and documentation are copyright 1996-2004 Glyph
& Cog, LLC and copyright 2005-2011 The Poppler Developers.
SEE ALSO
pdfdetach(1), pdffonts(1), pdfimages(1), pdfinfo(1), pdftohtml(1),
pdftoppm(1), pdftops(1), pdftotext(1) pdfseparate(1), pdfsig(1), pdfu-
nite(1)
pdftocairo(1)
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