List of PDF software

This list of PDF software includes links to articles on software used to manage Portable Document Format (PDF) documents.

Multi-platform

Converters

These allow users to convert PDF files to other formats.

Name License Platforms Description
GIMP GNU GPL Linux, Mac, Windows Converts PDF to raster images
ImageMagick Apache[1] Linux, Mac, Windows Converts PDF to raster images and vice versa
LibreOffice GNU LGPL BSD, Linux, Mac, Windows (Java based) Import from PDF (extension included by default), export as PDF including PDF/A.
OpenOffice.org GNU GPL Linux, Mac, Windows Import from PDF (with restrictions) (after installing an extension), export as PDF including PDF/A.
PDFBox Apache License Linux, Unix, Windows Converts PDF to other file format (text, images, html, ...)
Poppler-utils GNU GPL Linux, Unix, Windows Converts PDF to other file format (text, images, html, ...)
pstoedit GNU GPL ? Converts PostScript to (other) vector graphics file format
QPDF Artistic License 2.0 Linux, Windows[2] Structural, content-preserving transformations from PDF to PDF
pdf-parser Public Domain Python script Extraction and analysis tool, handles corrupt and malicious PDF documents
Solid Converter PDF Proprietary Windows, Mac OS X PDF to Word, Excel, HTML and Text; supports passwords, text editing, and batch conversion
SWFTools GNU GPL Linux, Windows, Mac SWF conversion and manipulation suite containing a standalone PDF to SWF converter along with a Python gfx API ( requires Xpdf )
Nitro PDF Proprietary Windows Converts PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, raster images
Able2extract Proprietary Windows, Mac OS X, Linux Converts PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Open Office, AutoCAD, HTML, Text, Images
Mobipocket Creator Proprietary Windows Import from PDF and create HTML and MOBI output

Editors

These allow users to modify an existing PDF file.

Name License Platforms Description
LibreOffice Draw GNU LGPL Windows, Mac OS, Linux PDF viewing and editing. Has many of the features offered by Acrobat.
Foxit PDF Editor Proprietary Windows Word Processor Like Editing, Spell Checking, Convert to ePub, HTML, and RTF, Export Tables and Article Threads
OpenOffice Draw GNU LGPL Windows, Mac OS, Linux PDF import via OpenOffice.org software, or extensions
Inkscape GNU GPL Windows, Mac OS, Linux Open, edit and export documents, but only one page at a time (pages can be later combined using PDF printer)
PDFedit GNU GPL Windows, Linux, BSD Software to view or edit the internal structures of PDF documents, and merge them
Pdftk GNU GPL Windows, Mac OS, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris Command-line tools to edit and convert documents; supports filling of PDF forms with FDF/XFDF data. GUI front-end exists
PDFSaM GNU GPLv2 Windows, Mac OS, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris GUI and command-line tools to split and merge PDF documents, rotate and rearrange pages; supports encrypting/decrypting of PDF documents, setting permissions, adding front or back cover, extracting attachments, filling the metadata
Nitro PDF Proprietary Windows Rich UI, allows combining PDFs, converting to other formats, editing (add images, shapes, text, etc.)
PDF Studio Proprietary Windows, Mac OS, Linux Full feature PDF editor
Karbon LGPL and GPL Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, Solaris/Illumos Import PDF with multiple pages as layouts, export as a one-page PDF. All standard vector graphics editor features.
Serif PagePlus Commercial Windows Desktop publishing (DTP) application allows opening and editing of PDF documents; Allows compatible saving as PDF 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.7 and supports also PDF/X1, PDF/X1a and PDF/X-3
Soda PDF Proprietary Windows, Mac OS X Modular PDF software

Development libraries

These are used by software developers to add and create PDF features.

Name License Description
Adobe PDF Library Proprietary License C++, .NET, Java API with support for PDF editing, viewing, printing and text extractions
Formatting Objects Processor Apache License Open-source print formatter driven by XSL Formatting Objects and an output independent formatter; main output target is PDF
GNU PDF GNU GPL Open-source C library in development; when done, will provide functions to implement all features of PDF 1.7 specification. (Due to the availability of Poppler, as of 6 October 2011, GNU PDF is no longer considered a "high priority project" by FSF.[3])
iText AGPL[4] Library to create and manipulate PDF, RTF, HTML files in Java, C#, and other .NET languages
JasperReports GNU LGPL Open-source Java reporting tool that can write to screen, printer, or into PDF, HTML, Microsoft Excel, RTF, ODT, comma-separated values and XML files
JPedal Proprietary, GNU LGPL Java developer library for view, extract, print PDF files
libHaru ZLIB/LIBPNG[5] Open-source, cross-platform C library to generate PDF files
PDFBox Apache License Java developer library for creating, view, extract, print PDF files.
PDFTron Systems Proprietary License C, C++, C# .NET, JAVA, Objective-C, Python, Ruby and PHP library for creating, editing, annotating, optimizing and viewing PDF files.
podofo GNU LGPL Open-source C++ library to read and write the PDF files
Poppler GNU GPL[6] Open-source multi-backend C++ library derived from Xpdf; no bundled viewer; incl. pdftohtml converter
TCPDF GNU LGPL Open-source PHP library to create PDF files
XEP Proprietary XSL-FO layout engine written in Java; output formats: PDF

Creators

These create files in their native formats, but then allow users to export them to PDF formats.

Name License Platforms Description
Adobe Acrobat Proprietary Windows, MacOS X Desktop PDF authoring suite
Adobe Illustrator Proprietary ? Illustrator can save as PDF, and can recognize and edit text and graphics
FineReader Proprietary ? OCR tool; can save as PDF, and recognize text from PDF
Ghostscript GNU GPL Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, UNIX Viewer, creator, converter; supports also PDF/X-3; used by PdfCreator (until v1.7.3 then .NET Framwork 4 since v2.0.0), WinPdf, BullzipPdf, CutePDF freeware version and others
Microsoft Office Proprietary Windows, Mac OS X All Microsoft Office products from 2007 version allow to Save as PDF
OpenOffice.org GNU GPL Linux, Windows, Mac All OpenOffice.org applications allow PDF export; supports also PDF/A-1a; since many import formats are supported (e.g., doc, docx, rtf, xls, ppt) conversion is also possible
LibreOffice GNU GPL Linux, Windows, Mac All LibreOffice applications allow PDF export; supports also PDF/A-1a; since many import formats are supported (e.g., doc, docx, rtf, xls, ppt) conversion is also possible
Serif PagePlus Commercial Windows Desktop publishing (DTP) application; Allows compatible saving as PDF 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.7 and supports also PDF/X1, PDF/X1a and PDF/X-3
PageStream Proprietary ? Cross-platform desktop publishing application to open, edit, export
Prince Commercial Linux, Mac, Windows, Solaris, Converts HTML, XML, SVG, and MathML to PDF by way of CSS
Scribus GNU GPL Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops Cross-platform desktop publishing (DTP) application; supports also PDF/X-3
XEP Proprietary BSD, Linux, Mac, Windows (Java based) Converts XML and XSL-FO to PDF
LaTeX, TeX LaTeX Project Public License, Permissive ? Mark-up language and tools to write technical reports, books, magazines, almost any publication type
LuaTeX GNU GPL ? TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents
pdfTeX GNU GPL ? TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents
XeTeX MIT ? TeX typesetting system that creates PDF documents

Viewers

These allow users to view (not edit or modify) any existing PDF file.

Name License Description
Adobe Reader Proprietary, freeware Adobe's PDF reader
DigiSigner Proprietary, freeware PDF viewer with added function to digitally sign PDF documents
Evince GNU GPL Universal viewer for GNOME.
Mozilla Firefox Free Software JavaScript-based built-in viewer, based on PDF.js.
Foxit Reader Proprietary, freeware PDF Viewer / Reader for Desktop computer and Mobile Devices. Allows users to add many elements to PDFs (e.g. arrowed comment boxes, text boxes, links, bookmarks, and images).
Ghostview Aladdin Free Public License A legacy graphical interface for Ghostscript
MuPDF GNU GPL Aims to be small and fast with high quality anti-aliased graphics.
Okular GNU GPL Universal viewer for KDE; replaces KPDF, available on versions of KDE from 4.1
PDF.js Apache License 2.0 A JavaScript library to convert PDF files into HTML5, usable as a web-based viewer that can be included in web browsers.
Qiqqa Proprietary, freeware View PDFs in a variety of zoom layouts, annotate, tag, search, cross-reference.
Utopia Documents Proprietary, freeware Semantic scientific PDF reader (optimised for life sciences and medicine), allows public comments on PDFs, generates on-the-fly link-outs to scientific databases and resources when used while online
Xpdf Free and proprietary versions Multi-platform viewer; GLP2, source and binaries available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh

AmigaOS

Converters

Viewers

Linux and Unix

Annotation functionality

Converters

The CUPS printing system can render any document to a PDF file, thus any UNIX/Linux program with print capability can produce PDF files.

Creators

Development libraries

Editors

Viewers

Mac OS X

Converters

Editors

Creators

Viewers

Microsoft Windows

Converters

Creators

Name Type and license Description
Bullzip PDF Printer Freeware Virtual printer, requires Ghostscript and PDFPowerTool.
CC PDF Converter GNU GPL Virtual Printer. Creates a PDF with embedded Creative Commons license from any software. Bundled with optional proprietary Razoss adware and browser tools.
CutePDF Freeware and professional versions Virtual printer, also with proprietary PDF editor. Attempts to install the Ask Toolbar as well as Hotspot shield. Can be avoided by using the /no3d command-line switch.
deskPDF Standalone Available for both client and terminal servers.
doPDF Freeware standalone Virtual printer. It doesn't use Ghostscript. Includes adware.
eCopy PaperWorks Proprietary
Foxit PhantomPDF Commercial
gDoc Creator Shareware Enterprise-level creator to create, review, edit, share or archive PDF and XPS documents. After 30 days shareware version places a watermark on documents.
HelpNDoc Freeware and professional versions Manual and documentation authoring tool with native PDF export. Free for personal use.
Nitro PDF Reader Freeware reader; commercial full version available As with Adobe Acrobat, Nitro PDF Pro's reader is free; but unlike Adobe's free reader, Nitro's free reader allows PDF creation (via a virtual printer driver, or by specifying a filename in the reader's interface, or by drag-'n-drop of a file to Nitro PDF Reader's Windows desktop icon); Ghostscript not needed.
NovaPDF Commercial Virtual printer.
PagePlus Proprietary Desktop publishing suite with PDF viewing, editing and creation features
PaperPort Commercial Desktop publishing suite with PDF viewing, editing and creation features
PDFCreator FairPlay, GNU GPL Virtual printer for Windows using a custom license called FairPlay. Used Ghostscript GPL until v1.7.3. Now uses .NET Framework 4. Includes adware.
PDF-XChange Free lite version PDF Tools allows creation of PDFs from many types of source input (images, scans, etc.). The PDF-XChange print driver allows printing directly to a PDF. A "lite" version of the print driver is free for non-commercial (home and academic) use.
PrimoPDF Freeware standalone Virtual printer, for Microsoft .NET Framework and uses Ghostscript and RedMon. Connects with www.primopdf.com. Includes Open Candy adware.
SaveasPDFandXPS Freeware Add-in for Microsoft Office 2007
Solid PDF Creator Proprietary
Universal Document Converter Proprietary, Commercial Virtual printer. It doesn't use Ghostscript.
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer Proprietary Graphic design software with PDF creation plus import, viewing and limited editing

Development libraries

Editors

Viewers

Mobile

Web-based

Converters

Editors

Viewers

References

External links