---
title: "JavaScript headless PDF conversion | Nutrient"
canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/web/conversion/headless/"
md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/web/conversion/headless.md"
last_updated: "2026-05-30T02:20:01.389Z"
description: "It’s possible to apply file conversion operations without the need to present any user interface (UI) to the user. for Nutrient Web SDK."
---

# Headless file conversion

It’s possible to apply file conversion operations without the need to present any user interface (UI) to the user.

## Standalone

In [Standalone mode](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/web/about/operational-modes.md) of Nutrient Web SDK, you can perform the operation using JavaScript in the browser by setting the `headless` option as `true` when loading the JavaScript library. This indicates you don’t want a UI:

```js

NutrientViewer.load({
    //...
    headless: true
}).then((instance) => {
    // Apply your operations.
}).catch((error) => {
    console.error("Failed to load viewer:", error.message);
});

```

Once the SDK is loaded, you can apply any of our operations as normal.

## Server-backed

When using the Server-backed [operational mode](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/web/about/operational-modes.md), a variety of operations are available server-side. Refer to the [Document Engine documentation](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/document-engine.md) for additional information.
---

## Related pages

- [Convert images to PDFs using JavaScript](/guides/web/conversion/image-to-pdf.md)
- [Convert images to text using JavaScript](/guides/web/conversion/image-to-text.md)
- [JavaScript PDF conversion library](/guides/web/conversion.md)
- [Convert text to PDF using JavaScript](/guides/web/conversion/text-to-pdf.md)
- [Convert Office to PDF using JavaScript](/guides/web/conversion/office-to-pdf.md)
- [Convert PDF to Office using JavaScript](/guides/web/conversion/pdf-to-office.md)
- [Convert PDFs to images using JavaScript](/guides/web/conversion/pdf-to-image.md)
- [Convert scanned PDFs to searchable PDFs using JavaScript](/guides/web/conversion/scan-to-searchable-pdf.md)
- [Convert PDFs and images to PDF/A using JavaScript](/guides/web/conversion/to-pdfa.md)