--- title: "Generate a PDF from images server-side | Nutrient" canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/pdf-generation/from-images/" md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/pdf-generation/from-images.md" last_updated: "2026-06-04T17:52:54.627Z" description: "Learn how to convert images to PDF using Document Engine. Follow our step-by-step guide for seamless document creation." --- # Generate a PDF from images This guide will take you through the process of generating a PDF using one or more images. ## Using document conversion This requires you to license [Image Documents](https://www.nutrient.io/sdk/web/). Your first option for converting an image to a PDF is to upload it directly to Document Engine. This works if you only want to create a PDF from a single image. The following example illustrates this using a PNG file. To create a new document from a PNG file, `POST` its contents to [`/api/documents`](https://www.nutrient.io/api/reference/document-engine/upstream/#tag/Documents/operation/upload-document): **Request** ### SHELL ```shell curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/documents \ -H "Authorization: Token token=" \ -F file=@/path/to/image.png ``` ### HTTP ```http POST /api/documents HTTP/1.1 Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=customboundary Authorization: Token token= --customboundary Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="image.png" Content-Type: image/png --customboundary-- ``` **Response** ```http HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: application/json { "data": { "document_id":..., "errors": [], "sourcePdfSha256":..., "title": "..." } } ``` The image will automatically be converted and can be downloaded as a PDF using the returned document ID. ## Using PDF Generation This requires you to license [PDF Generation](https://www.nutrient.io/sdk/solutions/generation/). Your second option is to use PDF Generation. This allows you to put as many images as you want into a single PDF by adding the images to an HTML page and uploading it to Document Engine. ### Document content You can arrange your images in the HTML like in the following example: ```html

``` ### PDF Generation Next, send the above HTML and the images you want to include to Server for generation. Use the [`/api/documents`](https://www.nutrient.io/api/reference/document-engine/upstream/#tag/Documents/operation/upload-document) endpoint, sending the [PDF Generation schema](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine/pdf-generation/from-html/schema.md) with the HTML file from above. Make sure you also supply the images here: ### CURL ```bash curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/documents \ -H 'Authorization: Token token=' \ -F document_id=image-document \ -F generation='{ "html": "page.html", "assets": [ "my-image-1.png", "my-image-2.png" ] }' \ -F page.html=@/path/to/page.html \ -F my-image-1.png=@/path/to/my-image-1.png \ -F my-image-2.png=@/path/to/my-image-2.png ``` ### HTTP ```http POST /api/documents HTTP/1.1 Authorization: Token token= Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=customboundary --customboundary Content-Disposition: form-data; name="document_id"; image-document --customboundary Content-Disposition: form-data; name="generation"; Content-Type: application/json { "html": "page.html", "assets": [ "my-image-1.png", "my-image-2.png" ] } --customboundary Content-Disposition: form-data; name="page.html" filename="page.html"; Content-Type: text/html --customboundary Content-Disposition: form-data; name="my-image-1.png" filename="my-image-1.png"; Content-Type: text/html --customboundary Content-Disposition: form-data; name="my-image-2.png" filename="my-image-2.png"; Content-Type: text/html --customboundary ``` After performing the above `curl` command, you can view the generated document in the Document Engine dashboard at http://localhost:5000/dashboard/documents/image-document![A PDF showing two images](@/assets/guides/document-engine/pdf-generation/image-document.png) --- ## Related pages - [Generate Word documents](/guides/document-engine/pdf-generation/from-word-template.md) - [Preview document thumbnails](/guides/document-engine/pdf-generation/thumbnail-preview.md) - [Server-side PDF generation](/guides/document-engine/pdf-generation.md)