PDF-to-JSON API: Convert PDFs to structured JSON

Convert PDF to JSON two ways: layout-aware elements with coordinates, confidence, and page context, or document content as text, tables, and key-value pairs. Free to try with 5,000 Data Extraction API credits each month.

TRY FOR FREE DATA EXTRACTION PRICING

Try it live

See the JSON output on a sample document

Pick a sample document and inspect the raw JSON. To run it on a different PDF, open Parse Studio, which needs no signup. The playground processes the first 10 pages by default.

Two JSON shapes for two jobs

Spatial JSON returns every element with its bounds, confidence, and page. Content JSON returns the text, tables, and key-value pairs on their own. Pick whichever the next system expects.

Tables that survive the conversion

Rows and cells come back as data rather than flattened text, so invoices, forms, and reports stay machine-readable.

Automate with Zapier

Automatically extract tables from PDFs in Google Drive and save as JSON files using our Zapier integration. A no-code workflow for document-to-data processing.

CONNECT WITH ZAPIER

Three steps

How to convert PDF to JSON

Both routes take a PDF and return JSON in a single request.

Get an API key

Create a free account for a key: 5,000 Data Extraction credits a month for spatial JSON, or 50 Processor credits for content JSON.

Pick the JSON shape

Spatial JSON for layout and coordinates, or content JSON for text, tables, and key-value pairs.

Post the PDF and read the response

The result is JSON, ready to write to result.json or hand straight to the next system.

Try it out

Spatial JSON from the Data Extraction API, with bounds, confidence, and page context on every element.

Save a PDF as document.pdf, run the sample from the same folder, and the elements come back in output.elements.

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/extraction/parse \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_goes_here" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf" \
  -F 'instructions={"mode":"understand","output":{"format":"spatial"}}'

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/extraction/parse ^
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_goes_here" ^
  -F "file=@document.pdf" ^
  -F "instructions={\"mode\":\"understand\",\"output\":{\"format\":\"spatial\"}}"

// This code requires Node.js. Do not run this code directly in a web browser.
import fs from "node:fs";

const form = new FormData();
form.append("file", await fs.openAsBlob("document.pdf"), "document.pdf");
form.append(
  "instructions",
  JSON.stringify({ mode: "understand", output: { format: "spatial" } }),
);

const response = await fetch("https://api.nutrient.io/extraction/parse", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { Authorization: "Bearer your_api_key_goes_here" },
  body: form,
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(await response.text());

const result = await response.json();
result.output.elements.forEach((el) => {
  console.log(`${el.type}: ${el.text || ""}`);
});

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.nutrient.io/extraction/parse",
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer your_api_key_goes_here"},
    files={"file": open("document.pdf", "rb")},
    data={
        "instructions": '{"mode":"understand","output":{"format":"spatial"}}'
    },
)
response.raise_for_status()

result = response.json()
for element in result["output"]["elements"]:
    print(f'{element["type"]}: {element.get("text", "")}')

Example output

Spatial JSON

A live understand mode response, the mode the samples request, trimmed to two of its seven elements. Each element carries its type, reading order, confidence score, bounds, and the page it came from.

{
  "status": 200,
  "requestId": "GN3CqcTBpalBV_8AAttC",
  "output": {
    "elements": [
      {
        "id": "ccdf2e80-682c-4b9b-b85f-48c0a8aa7050",
        "type": "paragraph",
        "role": "SectionHeader",
        "text": "Quarterly report",
        "confidence": 0.78,
        "readingOrder": 0,
        "bounds": { "x": 94, "y": 91, "width": 508, "height": 81 },
        "page": { "pageIndex": 0, "pageNumber": 1, "width": 1700, "height": 2200 }
      },
      {
        "id": "ed6356ea-6b89-4390-aeeb-4745688c52fd",
        "type": "paragraph",
        "role": "ListItem",
        "text": "312 new customers",
        "confidence": 0.82,
        "readingOrder": 3,
        "bounds": { "x": 142, "y": 392, "width": 324, "height": 33 },
        "page": { "pageIndex": 0, "pageNumber": 1, "width": 1700, "height": 2200 }
      }
    ]
  },
  "configuration": { "mode": "understand", "outputFormat": "spatial" }
}

Try it out

This example will extract tables from a PDF and return them as a JSON file.

Try it out in three steps

Add a PDF named document.pdf to your project folder.
Run the code from the same folder.
Open result.json to see the output.

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" \
  -o result.json \
  --fail \
  -F document=@document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document"
        }
      ],
      "output": {
        "type": "json-content",
        "plainText": false,
        "structuredText": false,
        "keyValuePairs": false,
        "tables": true
      }
    }'

curl -X POST https://api.nutrient.io/build ^
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here" ^
  -o result.json ^
  --fail ^
  -F document=@document.pdf ^
  -F instructions="{\"parts\": [{\"file\": \"document\"}], \"output\": {\"type\": \"json-content\", \"plainText\": false, \"structuredText\": false, \"keyValuePairs\": false, \"tables\": true}}"

package com.example.pspdfkit;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.FileSystems;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.StandardCopyOption;

import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;

import okhttp3.MediaType;
import okhttp3.MultipartBody;
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.RequestBody;
import okhttp3.Response;

public final class PspdfkitApiExample {
  public static void main(final String[] args) throws IOException {
    final RequestBody body = new MultipartBody.Builder()
      .setType(MultipartBody.FORM)
      .addFormDataPart(
        "document",
        "document.pdf",
        RequestBody.create(
          MediaType.parse("application/pdf"),
          new File("document.pdf")
        )
      )
      .addFormDataPart(
        "instructions",
        new JSONObject()
          .put("parts", new JSONArray()
            .put(new JSONObject()
              .put("file", "document")
            )
          )
          .put("output", new JSONObject()
            .put("type", "json-content")
            .put("plainText", false)
            .put("structuredText", false)
            .put("keyValuePairs", false)
            .put("tables", true)
          ).toString()
      )
      .build();

    final Request request = new Request.Builder()
      .url("https://api.nutrient.io/build")
      .method("POST", body)
      .addHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
      .build();

    final OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient()
      .newBuilder()
      .build();

    final Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

    if (response.isSuccessful()) {
      Files.copy(
        response.body().byteStream(),
        FileSystems.getDefault().getPath("result.json"),
        StandardCopyOption.REPLACE_EXISTING
      );
    } else {
      // Handle the error
      throw new IOException(response.body().string());
    }
  }
}

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using RestSharp;

namespace PspdfkitApiDemo
{
  class Program
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      var client = new RestClient("https://api.nutrient.io/build");

      var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST)
        .AddHeader("Authorization", "Bearer your_api_key_here")
        .AddFile("document", "document.pdf")
        .AddParameter("instructions", new JsonObject
        {
          ["parts"] = new JsonArray
          {
            new JsonObject
            {
              ["file"] = "document"
            }
          },
          ["output"] = new JsonObject
          {
            ["type"] = "json-content",
            ["plainText"] = false,
            ["structuredText"] = false,
            ["keyValuePairs"] = false,
            ["tables"] = true
          }
        }.ToString());

      request.AdvancedResponseWriter = (responseStream, response) =>
      {
        if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
        {
          using (responseStream)
          {
            using var outputFileWriter = File.OpenWrite("result.json");
            responseStream.CopyTo(outputFileWriter);
          }
        }
        else
        {
          var responseStreamReader = new StreamReader(responseStream);
          Console.Write(responseStreamReader.ReadToEnd());
        }
      };

      client.Execute(request);
    }
  }
}

// This code requires Node.js. Do not run this code directly in a web browser.

const axios = require('axios')
const FormData = require('form-data')
const fs = require('fs')

const formData = new FormData()
formData.append('instructions', JSON.stringify({
  parts: [
    {
      file: "document"
    }
  ],
  output: {
    type: "json-content",
    plainText: false,
    structuredText: false,
    keyValuePairs: false,
    tables: true
  }
}))
formData.append('document', fs.createReadStream('document.pdf'))

;(async () => {
  try {
    const response = await axios.post('https://api.nutrient.io/build', formData, {
      headers: formData.getHeaders({
        'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
      }),
      responseType: "stream"
    })

    response.data.pipe(fs.createWriteStream("result.json"))
  } catch (e) {
    const errorString = await streamToString(e.response.data)
    console.log(errorString)
  }
})()

function streamToString(stream) {
  const chunks = []
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    stream.on("data", (chunk) => chunks.push(Buffer.from(chunk)))
    stream.on("error", (err) => reject(err))
    stream.on("end", () => resolve(Buffer.concat(chunks).toString("utf8")))
  })
}

import requests
import json

response = requests.request(
  'POST',
  'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
  headers = {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your_api_key_here'
  },
  files = {
    'document': open('document.pdf', 'rb')
  },
  data = {
    'instructions': json.dumps({
      'parts': [
        {
          'file': 'document'
        }
      ],
      'output': {
        'type': 'json-content',
        'plainText': False,
        'structuredText': False,
        'keyValuePairs': False,
        'tables': True
      }
    })
  },
  stream = True
)

if response.ok:
  with open('result.json', 'wb') as fd:
    for chunk in response.iter_content(chunk_size=8096):
      fd.write(chunk)
else:
  print(response.text)
  exit()

<?php

$FileHandle = fopen('result.json', 'w+');

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.nutrient.io/build',
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'POST',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => array(
    'instructions' => '{
      "parts": [
        {
          "file": "document"
        }
      ],
      "output": {
        "type": "json-content",
        "plainText": false,
        "structuredText": false,
        "keyValuePairs": false,
        "tables": true
      }
    }',
    'document' => new CURLFILE('document.pdf')
  ),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => array(
    'Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here'
  ),
  CURLOPT_FILE => $FileHandle,
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);

fclose($FileHandle);

POST https://api.nutrient.io/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=--customboundary
Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here

--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="instructions"
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document"
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "json-content",
    "plainText": false,
    "structuredText": false,
    "keyValuePairs": false,
    "tables": true
  }
}
--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="document"; filename="document.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

(document data)
--customboundary--

Example output

Content JSON

Export PDF content to JSON by page, ready to write to result.json. The samples request tables only, so each page carries a tables list. Set plainText, structuredText, or keyValuePairs to true in the request to add those fields.

{
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageIndex": 0,
      "tables": [
        {
          "confidence": 95.4,
          "bbox": { "left": 33, "top": 220, "width": 160, "height": 71 },
          "cells": [
            {
              "bbox": { "left": 54, "top": 224, "width": 47, "height": 17 },
              "rowIndex": 0,
              "columnIndex": 0,
              "isHeader": true,
              "text": "Region"
            }
          ],
          "rows": [{ "bbox": { "left": 33, "top": 220, "width": 160, "height": 24 } }],
          "columns": [{ "bbox": { "left": 33, "top": 220, "width": 72, "height": 71 } }],
          "lines": [
            {
              "bbox": { "left": 33, "top": 220, "width": 160, "height": 1 },
              "isVertical": false,
              "thickness": 1
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Most common next steps

Next steps with the PDF-to-JSON API

OPEN GETTING STARTED

Use the following:

Data Extraction API For the full product, including field extraction and classification

PDF-to-Markdown API If the workflow needs Markdown for RAG and search rather than JSON

PDF to Excel If the workflow needs XLSX spreadsheet output rather than JSON

Get started:

Getting started For API key setup

Extract document elements guide For the spatial JSON request and response shapes

REST API reference For endpoint details

Platform resources:

Data Extraction API pricing For credits and plans on the spatial JSON route

Processor API pricing For credits on the content JSON route

Security documentation For document handling and compliance review

Privacy documentation For data handling review

Processor API overview For broader DWS evaluation

Security is our top priority

SOC 2 Type 2 audited

Nutrient’s infrastructure is SOC 2 Type 2 audited and GDPR compliant. See our privacy policy and security documentation for details on data handling.

HTTPS encryption

All communication between your application and Nutrient is done via HTTPS to ensure your data is encrypted when it’s sent to us.

Safe payment processing

All payments are handled by Paddle. Nutrient DWS Processor API never has direct access to any of your payment data.

Frequently asked questions

What is a PDF-to-JSON API?

Nutrient’s PDF-to-JSON API converts a PDF into machine-readable JSON with a single call. It offers two shapes: spatial JSON from the Data Extraction API, where every element carries bounds, confidence, and page context; and content JSON from the Processor API, which returns the document’s text, tables, and key-value pairs.

Which JSON output should I use?

Nutrient’s spatial JSON suits work that needs to know where content sits on the page: document analysis with spatial data, table extraction with cell coordinates, form field extraction, and document viewers or overlays. Content JSON suits straight data capture, where only the text, tables, and key-value pairs matter. Both take the same PDF: Spatial JSON comes from the Data Extraction API parse endpoint, and content JSON comes from a single Processor API /build call.

How do I extract tables from a PDF programmatically?

Nutrient returns tables as structured data rather than flattened text, so rows and cells stay intact for databases, analytics, and downstream automation. Post the PDF and read the tables from the JSON response. See the extract document elements guide for the request and response shapes.

Does it work on scanned PDFs?

Yes, Nutrient’s Data Extraction API is backed by optical character recognition (OCR), so scanned and image-based pages are read rather than skipped, in more than 100 languages, set with the options.language parameter. See the supported languages guide for the full list.

Which programming languages does the API support?

Nutrient’s APIs can be called from any language that makes HTTP requests. The Data Extraction route has shell, Windows shell, Python, and JavaScript samples; the Processor route adds Java, C# (.NET), and PHP, plus REST and a Postman collection.

Is there a free PDF-to-JSON API?

Yes, Nutrient’s Data Extraction API free plan includes 5,000 credits each month with no credit card required; the Processor API free plan includes 50. See Data Extraction API pricing for credit costs and paid plans.

What if the output needs to be Markdown instead?

Nutrient’s PDF-to-Markdown API returns the whole document as a Markdown string, which suits RAG pipelines, search indexing, and knowledge bases better than JSON. It runs on the same Data Extraction endpoint, so only the requested output format changes.

Ready to try it?

Create an account to get your DWS Processor API key and start making API calls.

START FOR FREE

PDF-to-JSON API: Convert PDFs to structured JSON

See the JSON output on a sample document

Two JSON shapes for two jobs

Tables that survive the conversion

Automate with Zapier

How to convert PDF to JSON

Get an API key

Pick the JSON shape

Post the PDF and read the response

Two routes to JSON

Try it out

Spatial JSON

Try it out

Content JSON

Next steps with the PDF-to-JSON API

Security is our top priority

SOC 2 Type 2 audited

HTTPS encryption

Safe payment processing

Frequently asked questions

Ready to try it?