OpenPDF is an open source Java library for PDF files

OpenPDF is a Java library for creating and editing PDF files with a LGPL and MPL open source license. OpenPDF is the LGPL/MPL open source successor of iText, and is based on some forks of iText 4 svn tag. We welcome contributions from other developers. Please feel free to submit pull-requests and bugreports to this GitHub repository.

OpenPDF version 2.0.3 released 2024-08-07

Get version 2.0.3 here: https://github.com/LibrePDF/OpenPDF/releases/tag/2.0.3

Please note: Repositories like Maven Central and others may take a few days to update.

Other versions

• OpenPDF 1.4.2 (release 2024-03-30)
• OpenPDF 1.3.43 (release 2024-03-29)
• Previous releases

Features

Some of the features of OpenPDF include:

• Creating PDFs: You can use OpenPDF to create new PDF documents from scratch.
• Manipulating Existing PDFs: OpenPDF allows you to modify existing PDF documents by adding or removing pages, modifying text, and more.
• Text and Font Support: You can add text to PDF documents using various fonts and styles, and extract text from PDF files.
• Graphics and Images: OpenPDF supports the addition of images and graphics to PDF files.
• Table Support: The library facilitates the creation of tables in PDF documents.
• Encryption: You can encrypt PDF documents for security purposes.
• Page Layout: OpenPDF allows you to set the page size, orientation, and other layout properties.

Use OpenPDF as Maven dependency

Add this to your pom.xml file to use the latest version of OpenPDF:

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.github.librepdf</groupId>
  <artifactId>openpdf</artifactId>
  <version>2.0.3</version>
</dependency>

License

GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), Version 2.1

For a short explanation see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Lesser_General_Public_License

Mozilla Public License Version 2.0

For a short explanation see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Public_License

You can find also a nice explanation of these licenses under https://itsfoss.com/open-source-licenses-explained/

We want OpenPDF to consist of source code which is consistently licensed with the LGPL and MPL licences only. This also means that any new contributions to the project must have a dual LGPL and MPL license only.

Documentation

• Examples
• JavaDoc
• Tutorial (wiki, work in progress)
• Migration from iText, TIFF support

Background

OpenPDF is open source software with a LGPL and MPL license. It is a fork of iText version 4, more specifically iText svn tag 4.2.0, which was hosted publicly on sourceforge with LGPL and MPL license headers in the source code, and LGPL and MPL license documents in the svn repository. Beginning with version 5.0 of iText, the developers have moved to the AGPL to improve their ability to sell commercial licenses.

OpenPDF ancestors in GitHub (in fork order):

1. @rtfarte / OpenPDF - parent of LibrePDF/OpenPDF
2. @kulatamicuda / iText-4.2.0
3. @daviddurand / iText-4.2.0
4. @ymasory / iText-4.2.0 - original parent on GitHub

Projects using OpenPDF

• Spring Framework
• flyingsaucer
• Digital Signature Service
• Confluence PDF Export
• OpenCMS, Nuxeo Web Framework, QR Invoice Library and many closed source commercial applications as well.
• Full list here: Artifacts using OpenPDF

Android

OpenPDF can be used with Android, more info here: Android-support

Contributing

Release the hounds! Please send all pull requests. Make sure that your contributions can be released with a dual LGPL and MPL license. In particular, pull requests to the OpenPDF project must only contain code that you have written yourself. GPL or AGPL licensed code will not be acceptable.

To contribute code to the OpenPDF project, your GitHub account must contain your real name, so that we can verify your identity. This is to ensure the trust, security and integrity of the OpenPDF project, and to prevent security incidents such as the "XZ Utils backdoor". Knowning the real name of the contributors will also identify and prevent conflict of interests.

More details: Contributing

Coding Style

• Code indentation style is 4 spaces. Maximum line length is 120 characters.
• Generally try to preserve the coding style in the file you are modifying.

Dependencies

Required Dependencies

We have now different versions of OpenPDF, and they require different versions of Java:

• The 2.0.x Branch requires Java 17 or later.
• The 1.4.x Branch requires Java 11 or later.
• The 1.3.x Branch requires Java 8 or later.
• Some versions of 1.3 where release with Java 11 as minimum requirement, but we have reverted this to Java 8 as minimum requirement.
• OpenPDF versions 2.0.x: We are working on modernizing the OpenPDF library for Java 17+.

UTF-8 Fonts

As of 1.3.21 the UTF-8 Liberation fonts moved to its own module, to reduce the size of the OpenPDF jar. If you want to use the bundled UTF-8 fonts, please add the following dependency to your project and use the class org.librepdf.openpdf.fonts.Liberation.

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.github.librepdf</groupId>
  <artifactId>openpdf-fonts-extra</artifactId>
  <version>${openpdf.version}</version>
</dependency>

Supporting complex glyph substitution/ Ligature substitution

OpenPDF supports glyph substitution which is required for correct rendering of fonts ligature substitution requirements. FOP dependency is required to enable this feature. Refer following wiki for details: wiki

Supporting OpenType layout, glyph positioning, reordering and substitution

OpenPDF supports OpenType layout, glyph positioning, reordering and substitution which is e.g. required for correct positioning of accents, the rendering of non-Latin and right-to-left scripts. OpenPDF supports DIN 91379. See: wiki

Optional

• BouncyCastle (BouncyCastle is used to sign PDF files, so it's a recommended dependency)
  • Provider (org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on or org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on depending on which algorithm you are using)
  • PKIX/CMS (org.bouncycastle:bcpkix-jdk18on)
• Apache FOP (org.apache.xmlgraphics:fop)
• Please refer to our pom.xml to see what version is needed.

Credits

Please see Contributors.md.