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An HTML to PDF library for the JVM. Based on Flying Saucer and Apache PDF-BOX 2. With SVG image support. Now also with accessible PDF support (WCAG, Section 508, PDF/UA)!

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Quick Overview

OpenHTMLtoPDF is an open-source Java library that converts HTML and CSS to PDF documents. It's based on the Flying Saucer project and uses the OpenPDF library for PDF generation. This project aims to provide a robust and flexible solution for creating PDF documents from HTML content.

Pros

  • Supports a wide range of CSS3 and HTML5 features
  • Actively maintained with regular updates and bug fixes
  • Offers extensive customization options for PDF output
  • Provides good documentation and examples

Cons

  • May have performance issues with large or complex documents
  • Limited support for some advanced CSS features
  • Requires Java knowledge and setup
  • Can be challenging to debug rendering issues

Code Examples

  1. Basic HTML to PDF conversion:
try (OutputStream os = new FileOutputStream("output.pdf")) {
    PdfRendererBuilder builder = new PdfRendererBuilder();
    builder.withUri("input.html");
    builder.toStream(os);
    builder.run();
}
  1. Converting HTML string to PDF:
String html = "<html><body><h1>Hello, World!</h1></body></html>";
try (OutputStream os = new FileOutputStream("output.pdf")) {
    PdfRendererBuilder builder = new PdfRendererBuilder();
    builder.withHtmlContent(html, null);
    builder.toStream(os);
    builder.run();
}
  1. Adding custom fonts:
PdfRendererBuilder builder = new PdfRendererBuilder();
builder.useFont(new File("path/to/font.ttf"), "FontName");
builder.withHtmlContent(html, null);
builder.toStream(outputStream);
builder.run();

Getting Started

To use OpenHTMLtoPDF in your Java project, add the following dependency to your Maven pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.openhtmltopdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>openhtmltopdf-core</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.10</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.openhtmltopdf</groupId>
    <artifactId>openhtmltopdf-pdfbox</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.10</version>
</dependency>

Then, you can use the library in your Java code as shown in the code examples above.

Competitor Comparisons

flyingsaucerproject logo

flyingsaucer

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XML/XHTML and CSS 2.1 renderer in pure Java

Pros of Flying Saucer

  • More mature project with longer history and established user base
  • Better documentation and community support
  • Wider range of supported CSS properties and features

Cons of Flying Saucer

  • No longer actively maintained (last commit in 2015)
  • Limited support for modern web standards and CSS3 features
  • Slower rendering performance compared to OpenHTMLToPDF

Code Comparison

Flying Saucer:

ITextRenderer renderer = new ITextRenderer();
renderer.setDocument(new File("input.html"));
renderer.layout();
renderer.createPDF(new FileOutputStream("output.pdf"));

OpenHTMLToPDF:

PdfRendererBuilder builder = new PdfRendererBuilder();
builder.withUri("input.html");
builder.toStream(new FileOutputStream("output.pdf"));
builder.run();

Both libraries offer similar APIs for basic HTML to PDF conversion. However, OpenHTMLToPDF provides more flexibility and options for customization in its builder pattern approach.

OpenHTMLToPDF is actively maintained and focuses on modern web standards, making it a better choice for projects requiring up-to-date features and ongoing support. Flying Saucer may still be suitable for legacy projects or those with simpler requirements that don't need the latest CSS3 support.

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Pros of iText

  • More comprehensive PDF manipulation capabilities
  • Extensive documentation and community support
  • Better performance for large-scale PDF generation

Cons of iText

  • Commercial licensing required for many use cases
  • Steeper learning curve due to more complex API
  • Less focus on HTML-to-PDF conversion

Code Comparison

iText example:

PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(dest);
PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);
Document document = new Document(pdf);
document.add(new Paragraph("Hello World!"));
document.close();

OpenHtmlToPdf example:

PdfRendererBuilder builder = new PdfRendererBuilder();
builder.withUri(inputHtml);
builder.toStream(os);
builder.run();

OpenHtmlToPdf focuses on converting HTML to PDF, offering a simpler API for this specific use case. iText provides a more comprehensive set of tools for PDF manipulation but requires more code for basic operations. The choice between the two depends on the specific requirements of your project, with OpenHtmlToPdf being more suitable for straightforward HTML-to-PDF conversions and iText offering more flexibility for complex PDF operations.

wkhtmltopdf logo

wkhtmltopdf

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Convert HTML to PDF using Webkit (QtWebKit)

Pros of wkhtmltopdf

  • Uses WebKit rendering engine, providing better support for modern web standards
  • Offers a command-line interface, making it easier to integrate into various workflows
  • Supports JavaScript execution, allowing for dynamic content rendering

Cons of wkhtmltopdf

  • Larger file size and more dependencies due to the WebKit engine
  • Can be slower for large-scale PDF generation tasks
  • Less actively maintained, with fewer recent updates

Code Comparison

wkhtmltopdf (command-line usage):

wkhtmltopdf https://example.com output.pdf

OpenHtmlToPdf (Java code):

PdfRendererBuilder builder = new PdfRendererBuilder();
builder.withUri("https://example.com");
builder.toStream(outputStream);
builder.run();

While wkhtmltopdf offers a simple command-line interface, OpenHtmlToPdf provides a Java API for more programmatic control. wkhtmltopdf is generally easier to use for simple tasks, but OpenHtmlToPdf offers more flexibility for complex PDF generation within Java applications.

Both projects aim to convert HTML to PDF, but they cater to different use cases and environments. The choice between them depends on factors such as the specific requirements of your project, the desired level of control, and the development environment.

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README

build

OPEN HTML TO PDF

PDF screenshot of OpenHTMLtoPDF

OVERVIEW

Open HTML to PDF is a pure-Java library for rendering a reasonable subset of well-formed XML/XHTML (and even some HTML5) using CSS 2.1 (and later standards) for layout and formatting, outputting to PDF or images.

Use this library to generated nice looking PDF documents. But be aware that you can not throw modern HTML5+ at this engine and expect a great result. You must special craft the HTML document for this library and use it's extended CSS feature like #31 or #32 to get good results. Avoid floats near page breaks and use table layouts.

GETTING STARTED

DIFFERENCES WITH FLYING SAUCER

  • Uses the well-maintained and open-source (LGPL compatible) PDFBOX as PDF library, rather than iText.
  • Proper support for generating accessible PDFs (Section 508, PDF/UA, WCAG 2.0).
  • Proper support for generating PDF/A standards compliant PDFs.
  • New, faster renderer means this project can be several times faster for very large documents.
  • Better support for CSS3 transforms.
  • Automatic visual regression testing of PDFs, with many end-to-end tests.
  • Ability to insert pages for cut-off content.
  • Built-in plugins for SVG and MathML.
  • Font fallback support.
  • Limited support for RTL and bi-directional documents.
  • On the negative side, no support for OpenType fonts.
  • Footnote support.
  • Much more. See changelog below.

LICENSE

Open HTML to PDF is distributed under the LGPL. Open HTML to PDF itself is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 or later, available at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html. You can use Open HTML to PDF in any way and for any purpose you want as long as you respect the terms of the license. A copy of the LGPL license is included as license-lgpl-2.1.txt or license-lgpl-3.txt in our distributions and in our source tree.

An exception to this is the pdf-a testing module, which is licensed under the GPL. This module is not distributed to Maven Central and is for testing only.

Open HTML to PDF uses a couple of FOSS packages to get the job done. A list of these can be found in the dependency graph.

CREDITS

Open HTML to PDF is based on Flying-saucer. Credit goes to the contributors of that project. Code will also be used from neoFlyingSaucer

FAQ

  • OPEN HTML TO PDF is tested with OpenJDK 8, 11 and 17 (early access). It requires at least Java 8 to run.
  • No, you can not use it on Android.
  • You should be able to use it on Google App Engine (Java 8 or greater environment). Let us know your experience.
  • Flowing columns are not implemented. Implemented in RC12.
  • No, it's not a web browser. Specifically, it does not run javascript or implement many modern standards such as flex and grid layout.

TEST CASES

Test cases, failing or working are welcome, please place them in /openhtmltopdf-examples/src/main/resources/testcases/ and run them from /openhtmltopdf-examples/src/main/java/com/openhtmltopdf/testcases/TestcaseRunner.java.

CHANGELOG

head - 1.0.11-SNAPSHOT

  • See commit log.

1.0.10 (2021-September-13)

NOTE: After this release the old slow renderer will be deleted. Fast mode has been the default (since 1.0.5) so you only have to check your code if you are calling the useSlowMode method which will be removed.

  • #551 SECURITY Fix near-infinite loop for very deeply nested content with page-break-inside: avoid constraint. Thanks for persisting @swillis12 and debugging @syjer.
  • #729 SECURITY Upgrade xmlgraphics-commons (used in SVG rendering) to avoid CVE. Thanks @electrofLy.
  • #711 Footnote support (beta). See footnote documentation on wiki. Thanks for requesting @a-leithner and @slumki.
  • #761 CSS property to disable bevels on borders to prevent ugly anti-aliasing effects, especially on table cells. See -fs-border-rendering property on wiki. Thanks for providing sample @gandboy91.
  • #103 Output exception class name and message by default for log messages with an associated exception.
  • #711 (mixed) Better boxing for ::before and ::after content. Should now be able to define a border around pseudo content correctly.
  • #738 Support for additional elements in PDF/UA including art, part, sect, section, caption and blockquote. Thanks @AndreasJacobsen.
  • #736 New example of using a dom mutator to implement unsupported content such as font tag attributes. Thanks for requesting @mgabhishek06kodur.
  • #707 Fix regression where PDF/UA documents that weren't also PDF/A compliant were missing Dublin Core metadata. Thanks @mgm-rwagner, @syjer.
  • #732 Allow table element to be positioned. Thanks @fcorneli.
  • #727 Allow the use of an initial page number for page and pages counters. Thanks for PR @fanthos.

1.0.9 (2021-June-18)

SECURITY RELEASE: This release was brought forward due to security releases of the PDFBOX and Batik dependencies.

  • #722 Upgrade PDFBOX (to 2.0.24) - avoids CVEs in earlier versions and PDFBoxGraphics2D. Thanks a lot @rototor.
  • #678 Upgrade Batik Version to 1.14 (CVE-2020-11987) - Again it is strongly advised to avoid untrusted SVG and XML. Thanks @rototor.
  • #716 Replace rogue println calls with log calls. Thanks @syjer for PR, @tfo for reporting.
  • #708 Allow shape-rendering SVG CSS property. Thanks @syjer for PR, @RAlfoeldi for reporting.
  • #703 Remove calls to deprecated method calls in JRE standard library. May change XML reader class. Implemented by @danfickle.
  • #702 Set timeouts for default HTTP/HTTPS handlers. Thanks for reporting @gengzi.
  • 162228 Put links to raster images in SVGs through the URL resolver.
  • #694 Fix incorrect B3 paper size. Thanks @lfintalan for reporting with line number!
  • ab48fd Do not log a missing font more than once.

NOTE: PDFBOX CVEs relate to the loading of untrusted PDFs in PDFBOX and thus this project is not directly affected. However, it is not a good idea to have CVEs on your classpath.

1.0.8 (2021-March-22)

SECURITY RELEASE

  • #675 Update PDFBOX to 2.0.23 to avoid CVEs. Thanks for reporting @Samuel3.

NOTE: These CVEs relate to the loading of untrusted PDFs in PDFBOX and thus this project is not directly affected. However, it is not a good idea to have CVEs on your classpath.

1.0.7 (2021-March-19)

  • #650 Support for multiple background images on the one element. Thanks for requesting @baedorf.
  • #669 Support fallback fonts. Thanks for requesting @asu2 and assisting @draco1023.
  • #640 Implement file embeds via the download attribute on links. Thanks for original PR @syjer and for requesting @lindamarieb and @vader.
  • #666 API to get the bottom-most y position of rendered content to be able to position follow on content with other tools. Thanks for extensive reviewing of PR @stechio and for request by @DSW-AK.
  • #664 Improved support for PDF/A and PDF/UA standards. Thanks for PR @qligier.
  • #653 Fix for inline-block elements with a z-index or transform were being output twice. Thanks for reporting @hannes123bsi.
  • #655 Correct layout of ordered lists in RTL direction. Thanks for PR @johnnyaug.
  • #658 Implement target-text function for content property. Thanks for PR @BenjaminVega.
  • #647 Fix race condition in setting up logger in multi-threaded environments. Thanks for PR @syjer.
  • #638 Ability to plug-in external resource control based on resource type and url. Thanks for original PR @syjer.
  • #628 Use enhanced image embedding methods from PDF-BOX. Thanks for PR @rototor and your work in PDF-BOX implementing this.
  • #627 Fix regression where a null font style was causing NPE. Thaks for PR @rototor.
  • #338 Implement read-only radio button group. Thanks for investigating, reporting and patience @ThoSchCon, @aleks-shbln, @dmitry-weirdo, @syjer and @paulito-bandito.

1.0.6 (2020-December-22)

IMPORTANT: #615 This is a bug fix release for an endless loop issue when using break-word with floating elements with a top/bottom margin.

  • #624 Update PDFBOX to 2.0.22 and pdfbox-graphics2d to 0.30. Thanks @rototor.
  • #467 Prevent possibility of CSS import loop.
  • #621 Allow spaces in data uris. Thanks @syjer.

1.0.5 (2020-November-30)

SECURITY: #609 Updates Apache Batik SVG renderer to latest version to avoid security issue. If you are using this project to render untrusted SVGs (advised against), you should update immediately. Thanks a lot @halvorbmundal.

IMPORTANT: The fast renderer is now the default in preparation of removing the old slow renderer. To temporarily use the slow renderer, you can call the deprecated method builder.useSlowMode() (PDF output only).

IMPORTANT: #543 This version stays on PDFBOX version 2.0.20 due to a bug with non-breaking spaces in version 2.0.21. Please make sure version 2.0.21 is not on your classpath. This bug has been fixed in the upcoming 2.0.22.

  • #544 Code to create a website for pre-canned PDF templates in thymeleaf and raw XHTML format. Check out the template website to preview templates.
  • #533 Barcode plugin. Very useful PR supplied by @syjer. Barcode plugin docs.
  • #521 Move Java2D image output to fast renderer and general improvements. Java2D image output docs.
  • 9ffd0e #568 Filter out problematic characters that are visible in some fonts but should not be such as soft-hyphen. Thanks @StephanSchrader.
  • #587 Fix for white-space: nowrap cutting off instead of wrapping. Thanks @vipcxj for finally fixing via PR.
  • #577 Add foreground PDF drawer plugin (useful especially for watermarks). Thanks @rototor for PR and @sillen102 for persisting.
  • #566 Rename baseUri arg to baseDocumentUri and improve javadoc to avoid confusion. Thanks for reporting @NehalDamania.
  • 801780 Update junit test dependency to 4.13.1 to avoid security scanner warnings (the specific security problem did not impact this library).
  • #553 Fix for ContentLimitContainer causing NPEs when negative margins are used. Thanks for reporting @adilxoxo.
  • #552 Optimize the log formatter for j.u.l logging. Thanks for the impressive PR @syjer.
  • #542 Improve list-decoration placement. Thanks for PR @syjer and reporting @mndzielski.
  • #458 Fix for list-decorations being output (clipped) in page margin area.
  • #525 Remove unused schema/DTDs. Significantly reduces size of jar. Thanks for PR @syjer.
  • #592 Allow unit (px, cm, em, etc) values in the width/height attributes of linked SVG images. Thanks @DanielWulfert.
  • #594 #458 Fix for more repeating content and PDF/UA crash. Thanks @ThomHurks, @fungc.
  • #599 Fix RuntimeException ocurring on InlineText.setSubstring. Thanks @LAlves91.
  • #605 Fix to make justification work with surrogate pairs. Thanks @EmanuelCozariz.
  • #601 Move CI to Github actions. Thanks @syjer.
  • #597 Generalize data uri support. Thanks @syjer, @Leostat86.
  • #613 Allow adding fonts for SVG, MathML as files instead of input streams to avoid JDK bug. Thanks @syjer, @sureshkumar-ramalingam, @olayinkasf.

1.0.4 (2020-July-25)

  • b88538 Fix for endless loop when using word-wrap: break-word. Thanks for reporting, testing and investigating @swarl. Thanks for tests and debugging @rototor and @syjer.
  • #492 Lots of testing of the line-breaking algorithm to avoid future endless loops. By @danfickle.
  • #515 Pass document CSS styles applying to SVG element to SVG implementation. Thanks for requesting and contributing @amckain92.
  • #514 FIX: Correctly position boxes when justifying rtl lines. Thanks for reporting and testing @lzhy1101.
  • #512 #507 #502 Cleanup code including deleting unused code, generics, etc. Thanks for PRs @syjer.
  • #489 Extensive overhaul of logging including per run diagnostic consumer. Huge thanks @syjer, a lot of work in this PR. See logging page on wiki for more info.
  • #501 Upgrade PDFBOX to 2.0.20 and PDFBox-Graphics2D to 0.26. Thanks for PR @rototor.
  • #490 Fix for NPE when decoding image data url fails. Thanks for PR @syjer and reporting @AlexisCothenet.
  • #516 Add OSGI bundle metadata to MANIFEST.MFs. Thanks for requesting and investigating @zspitzer.

1.0.3 (2020-May-25)

  • IMPORTANT: This release contains fixes for two bugs that may result in endless loops/denial of service when using word-wrap: break-word. If you are using this feature, please upgrade promptly.
  • #483 Fix for endless loop bug with word-wrap: break-word and soft hyphens. Thanks @rototor for PR, @syjer for analysis and @swarl for reporting.
  • #466 Fix for endless loop bug with word-wrap: break-word and zero width boxes. Thanks @syjer for analysis and @AlexisCothenet for reporting.
  • #486 SVG plugin can now provide a list of allowed protocols for external resources and any configured uri resolver/stream handlers will be used. Thanks @syjer for PR and @ieugen for reporting.
  • #480 Fix for link shapes being returned from custom object drawers. Thanks @rototor for PR and @hbergmey for reporting.
  • #485 Implement support for SVG data uris. Thanks @syjer for PR and @adrianrodfer for reporting.
  • #470 Allow mailto: links or any other valid link. Thanks @syjer for PR and @mndzielski for reporting.
  • #464 Honor the direction CSS property. Thanks @AnanasPizza for reporting.
  • #460 Change thrown exception class to more specific IOException. Thanks for PR @leonorader.
  • #459 Implement the rem CSS unit. Thanks to @leonorader for reporting.
  • #211 Images can now be used in the CSS content property. Thanks for requesting @Kuhlware.
  • #445 Fix for not picking up attribute values in Jsoup converted documents. Thanks for reporting @testinfected.
  • #450 Java2D output only: Ability to add fonts via code. Also environment fonts will no longer be used by default. To use environment fonts: builder.useEnvironmentFonts(true).

1.0.2 (2020-February-25)

  • SECURITY Removed Log4J 1.x adaptor as it had CVE-2019-17571 with no updated version available.
  • #448 Implement linear-gradient support for background-image property. By @danfickle. Requested by @rja907.
  • #429 Major overhaul of word-wrap: break-word. Now a word will not be broken unless it is too big for a line by itself. By @danfickle. Thanks for reporting and testing @mndzielski.
  • #433 Do not justify lines ending with <br/> tag. Thanks for reporting @fcorneli.
  • #440 Remove trailing white space for right aligned text to avoid jagged appearance. Thanks for reporting @AnanasPizza.
  • #446 Look for lang attribute on ancestor elements when using lang() selector. Thanks for reporting and tracking down the bug @fungc.
  • #430 Use relative path to license in source jars instead of absolute path. Thanks for reporting @gabro and fixing via PR @syjer.
  • #417 Keep aspect ratio of images with width/height properties as well as min/max width/height properties. Thanks for reporting and basis for fix @swarl.
  • #423 Allow multiple font sources to be specified with format tags. Only use format(truetype). Thanks for requesting @MichaelZaleskovsky and basis for implementation @syjer.
  • #415 Avoid class cast exception if user tries to float table cell. Thanks for reporting @dmartineau99 and PR @syjer.
  • #421 Avoid NPE when justified text is mixed with unjustifiable content. Thanks for reporting @Megingjard and PR @syjer.
  • Updated PDFBOX 2.0.17 to 2.0.19.

1.0.1 (2019-November-18)

  • #413 Handle form problems such as no name on input element without throwing a NPE. Thanks @syjer for PR and @mmatecki for reporting.
  • #412 Add HTML block level elements usch as section to default CSS. Thanks @syjer.
  • #339 Remove the JSoup to DOM converter module. Thanks @kewilson.
  • 0cd098 Fix for letter-spacing support on last line of block with trailing space. Also performance improvements and refactoring. By @danfickle.
  • #410 Fix for wrong bold setting on list item counters. Thanks @syjer for PR fix (and test!) and @acieplinski for reporting.
  • Wiki Configurable text justification settings as part of a justification overhaul that also allows more space to be used inter-char when there are no spaces on the line. By @danfickle. Commits listed in #403.
  • #403 Soft hyphen support. Soft hyphens are now replaced with hard hyphens when used as line ending character. Thanks @sbrunecker.
  • #408 Fix for bookmarks not working with HTML5 parsers such as JSoup. Thanks @syjer for investigating and fixing and @Milchreis for reporting.
  • #404 Upgrade Batik to 1.12 and xmlgraphics-common to 2.4 (both used in SVG module) to avoid CVE in one or both. Thanks @avoiculet.
  • #396 Much faster rendering of boxes using border-radius properties. Thanks @mndzielski.
  • #400 Support for lang and title attrbiutes and abbr tag for accessible PDFs. Thanks @Ignaciort91.
  • #394, #395 Upgrade PDFBOX to 2.0.17 and pdfbox-graphics2d to 0.25. Thanks @cristan, @rototor.
  • #384 Allow user to provide PDFont supplier. Thanks @DSW-PS.
  • #373 Fix regression where both max-width and max-height are provided for images with certain aspect ratios. Thanks @rototor.
  • #380 Much better support for flowing columns including explicit column breaks, floating content, block level nested content. By @danfickle.

1.0.0 (2019-July-23)

  • #372 Much improved sizing support for img, svg and math elements.
  • #344 Use PDFs in img tag: <img src="some.pdf" page="1" alt="Some alt text" />.

OLDER RELEASES

View CHANGELOG.md.