PDF to Image

Overview

Pages are rendered with Poppler, the PDF engine used by most Linux desktops, so text, vector graphics, images and page rotation come out as a PDF viewer shows them. Very large pages are rendered at a lower dpi so no image exceeds 25 megapixels, and each image reports the dpi it was rendered at. Encrypted PDFs are rejected.

Live Test PDF to Image API →

Endpoint

One host, one path per API. The block below shows this call in four languages; every one of them is the same HTTP request. Making requests covers the timeouts, retries and parameter rules that apply to all of them. The SDKs wrap the same call in a typed client.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

curl -X POST https://api.apiverve.com/v1/pdftoimage \
  -H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "pdf": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mozilla/pdf.js/master/web/compressed.tracemonkey-pldi-09.pdf",
  "pages": "1-2",
  "format": "png"
}'

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

const res = await fetch('https://api.apiverve.com/v1/pdftoimage', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'x-api-key': 'your_api_key_here',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
  "pdf": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mozilla/pdf.js/master/web/compressed.tracemonkey-pldi-09.pdf",
  "pages": "1-2",
  "format": "png"
}),
});

if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${await res.text()}`);

const { data } = await res.json();
console.log(data);

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

import requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/pdftoimage",
    headers={"x-api-key": "your_api_key_here"},
    json={
    "pdf": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mozilla/pdf.js/master/web/compressed.tracemonkey-pldi-09.pdf",
    "pages": "1-2",
    "format": "png"
},
    timeout=15,
)
res.raise_for_status()

print(res.json()["data"])

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
	"strings"
)

func main() {
	body := strings.NewReader(`{
  "pdf": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mozilla/pdf.js/master/web/compressed.tracemonkey-pldi-09.pdf",
  "pages": "1-2",
  "format": "png"
}`)
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/pdftoimage", body)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	req.Header.Set("x-api-key", "your_api_key_here")

	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()

	out, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(out))
}

Replace your_api_key_here with the key from your dashboard. When the inputs arrive as a list rather than one at a time, batch requests run up to 200 of them through this same API in a single call.

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — there is no token exchange and no per-endpoint scope to configure. Authentication covers creating, rotating and revoking keys.

Parameters

Sent as JSON in the request body. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Response

Every API returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape. Response format covers the envelope, the other output formats and how premium fields are withheld.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "pageCount": 14,
    "format": "png",
    "dpi": 150,
    "imageCount": 2,
    "expires": 1792400000000,
    "images": [
      {
        "page": 1,
        "imageName": "3b7e9d21-4c5a-4f80-a1d6-9e2c8b7f5a34-1.png",
        "width": 1275,
        "height": 1650,
        "dpi": 150,
        "size": 214533,
        "downloadURL": "https://storage.googleapis.com/apiverve/APIData/pdftoimage/3b7e9d21-4c5a-4f80-a1d6-9e2c8b7f5a34-1.png?GoogleAccessId=635500398038-compute%40developer.gserviceaccount.com&Expires=1792400000&Signature=S…"
      },
      {
        "page": 2,
        "imageName": "3b7e9d21-4c5a-4f80-a1d6-9e2c8b7f5a34-2.png",
        "width": 1275,
        "height": 1650,
        "dpi": 150,
        "size": 198207,
        "downloadURL": "https://storage.googleapis.com/apiverve/APIData/pdftoimage/3b7e9d21-4c5a-4f80-a1d6-9e2c8b7f5a34-2.png?GoogleAccessId=635500398038-compute%40developer.gserviceaccount.com&Expires=1792400000&Signature=S…"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change. Error handling covers the full status list and which of them are worth retrying.

Use cases

Document Thumbnails

Show a preview image of the first page of uploaded PDFs in file lists and search results.

Page Previews

Display individual pages of a contract or report as images where a PDF viewer is not available.

OCR Pipelines

Turn scanned PDF pages into images for the Image to Text API or another OCR step.

Social and Email Images

Use a page of a brochure, menu or flyer PDF as an image in posts and newsletters.

Other ways to use PDF to Image

Set up PDF to Image on APIVerve, or reach the same source a different way. Your APIVerve account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

Related

More in Documents: