PDFBox
The Apache PDFBox® library is an open-source Java tool for working with PDF documents. This project allows the creation of new PDF documents, manipulation of existing documents and the ability to extract content from documents. Apache PDFBox also includes several command-line utilities. Apache PDFBox is published under the Apache License v2.0. Extract Unicode text from PDF files. Split a single PDF into many files or merge multiple PDF files. Extract data from PDF forms or fill a PDF form. Validate PDF files against the PDF/A-1b standard. Print a PDF file using the standard Java printing API. Create a PDF from scratch, with embedded fonts and images. Save PDFs as image files, such as PNG or JPEG and digitally sign PDF files. See also the export control information related to the encryption features included in Apache PDFBox.
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pdfRest API Toolkit
pdfRest is a REST API for high-volume PDF processing, built on the Adobe PDF Library. Call it from any language to convert, generate, extract, secure, and prepare PDFs in production pipelines, chaining calls by passing a resource ID between steps.
Convert Office, HTML, images, email, and Markdown to PDF, and PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images, Markdown, PDF/A, PDF/X, and PostScript. Generate PDFs from scratch with text, images, shapes, and attachments, with accessibility tagging. Extract via OCR, text/image extraction, form data, metadata, AI summarization, translation. Secure with signing, encryption, restrictions, watermarking, two-step redaction, and TDM Reserve to opt out of AI training. Handle prepress: color conversion, transparency flattening, page boxes, rasterization. Manage forms: import/export, flatten, XFA-to-AcroForm.
Deploy on pdfRest Cloud (US or EU) or self-host via Docker, Kubernetes, or AWS Marketplace (BYOL) — same API, same code, just change the base URL.
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TCPDF
TCPDF is now one of the world's most active open-source projects, used daily by millions of users and included in thousands of CMS and web applications. No external libraries are required for the basic functions, all standard page formats, custom page formats, custom margins, and units of measure. UTF-8 Unicode and right-to-left languages. TrueType Unicode, OpenType Unicode, TrueType, OpenType, Type1 and CID-0 fonts, and font subsetting. Methods to publish some XHTML + CSS code, Javascript, and forms. Images, graphics (geometric figures), and transformation methods. Supports JPEG, PNG, and SVG images natively, all images supported by GD (GD, GD2, GD2PART, GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, XBM, XPM), and all images supported via ImagMagick. Automatic page header and footer management. Document encryption up to 256-bit and digital signature certifications, transactions to UNDO commands, and PDF annotations, including links, text and file attachments.
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PDF Constructor
Using an XML grammar incorporating features of XHTML, CSS, and SVG, PDF Constructor creates single or multiple-page PDF documents using existing or dynamically-created raster, vector, and text content. Build PDFs with content that is ready to go to print. Use CMYK and spot colors. Specify the bleed and trim. Use Type 1, TrueType, or OpenType fonts, always embedded and optionally subset. Produce web or screen-ready documents with bookmarks, hyperlinks, actions, and JavaScript. You can even build complete Acrobat Forms dynamically. Include JPEG and TIFF images in any colorspace and resolution. Apply your choice of transformations to ensure the image fits correctly into your layout. Include SVG drawings directly or by reference. Specify individual pages or entire PDF documents as new content or as a template on which to add new elements. Paragraph and character styles based on CSS2 can be specified for flowable content.
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