PoDoFo – parse PDF files and modify their contents into memory

Last Updated on October 11, 2023

PoDoFo is a library to work with the PDF file format. The name comes from the first letter of PDF (Portable Document Format). A few tools to work with PDF files are already included in the PoDoFo package.

The PoDoFo library  includes classes to parse PDF files and modify their contents into memory. The changes can be written back to disk easily. The parser can also be used to extract information from a PDF file (for example the parser could be used in a PDF viewer).

Besides parsing PoDoFo includes also very simple classes to create your own PDF files. All classes are documented so it is easy to start writing your own application using PoDoFo.

Features include:

• Create PDF files.
• Read PDF files.
• Modify PDF files.
• Simple command-line tools to work with PDF files:
  • podofoencrypt – encrypts any PDF and allows to set PDF permissions.
  • podofoimgextract – extracts all images from a given PDF file.
  • podofoimpose – powerful PDF imposition tool. It places pages from one or more source PDFs onto pages of a new PDF, applying scaling and positioning.
  • podofomerge – merges two PDF files into one.
  • podofopdfinfo – provides some basic info about a PDF – metadata, page details, etc.
  • podofotxt2pdf – converts a text file to a PDF.
  • podofotxtextract – tool that extracts all text from a PDF file. Works only for simple PDFs at the moment.
  • podofouncompress – removes all compression filters from a PDF file. This is useful for debugging existing PDF files.
• Encrypt and sign PDFs.
• Draw PDFs.
• Unicode fonts.
• Font subsetting.

Website: github.com/podofo/podofo
Support: SourceForge Project Page, GitHub Code Repository
Developer: Dominik Seichter, Leonard Rosenthol, Craig Ringer
License: GNU General Public License v2.0

PoDoFo is written in C++ and Lua. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn Lua with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

Return to PDF Development Libraries

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