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Convert PDF to Image

To convert a PDF file to an image, send a multipart request to the /api/build API endpoint, including both the source document and the instructions JSON. In response, you’ll receive a ZIP archive containing all of the document’s pages as images.

Rendering a document requires you to provide dimensions for the rendered pages via a width, height, or dpi option.

Only one option — width, height, or dpi — can be chosen. Other dimensions are calculated before rendering, so as to preserve the page aspect ratio of the rendered image.

The format of the rendered images can be controlled via a format option. Supported image formats are PNG, JPEG, WEBP, and TIFF.

For more information, refer to the API reference to learn about the /api/build endpoint and all the actions you can perform on PDFs with Document Engine.

For an overview of multipart requests, refer to the brief tour of multipart requests blog post.

Converting a PDF File on Disk to an Image

Send a multipart request to the /api/build endpoint, attaching an input file and the instructions JSON:

curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/build \
  -H "Authorization: Token token=<API token>" \
  -F document=@/path/to/example-document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document"
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "image",
    "format": "png",
    "pages": {
      "start": 0,
      "end": 2
    }
  }
}' \
  -o result.zip
POST /api/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=customboundary
Authorization: Token token=<API token>

--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="document"; filename="example-document.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

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

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document"
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "image",
    "format": "png",
    "pages": {
      "start": 0,
      "end": 2
    }
  }
}
--customboundary--

Converting a PDF File from a URL to an Image

Send a multipart request to the /api/build endpoint, attaching a URL pointing to an input file and the instructions JSON:

curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/build \
  -H "Authorization: Token token=<API token>" \
  -F instructions='{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": {
        "url": "https://pspdfkit.com/downloads/examples/paper.pdf"
      }
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "image",
    "format": "png",
    "pages": {
      "start": 1,
      "end": 1
    }
  }
}' \
  -o output-image.png
POST /api/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=customboundary
Authorization: Token token=<API token>

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

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": {
        "url": "https://pspdfkit.com/downloads/examples/paper.pdf"
      }
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "image",
    "format": "png",
    "pages": {
      "start": 1,
      "end": 1
    }
  }
}
--customboundary--