1pdftops(1) General Commands Manual pdftops(1)
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6 pdftops - Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (ver‐
7 sion 3.03)
8
10 pdftops [options] <PDF-file> [<PS-file>]
11
13 Pdftops converts Portable Document Format (PDF) files to PostScript so
14 they can be printed.
15 Pdftops reads the PDF file, PDF-file, and writes a PostScript file, PS-
17 file. If PS-file is not specified, pdftops converts file.pdf to
18 file.ps (or file.eps with the -eps option). If PS-file is ´-', the
19 PostScript is sent to stdout. If PDF-file is ´-', Pdftops reads the
20 PDF file from stdin.
21
23 -f number
24 Specifies the first page to print.
25 -l number
27 Specifies the last page to print.
28 -level1
30 Generate Level 1 PostScript. The resulting PostScript files
31 will be significantly larger (if they contain images), but will
32 print on Level 1 printers. This also converts all images to
33 black and white. No more than one of the PostScript level op‐
34 tions (-level1, -level1sep, -level2, -level2sep, -level3,
35 -level3sep) may be given.
36 -level1sep
38 Generate Level 1 separable PostScript. All colors are converted
39 to CMYK. Images are written with separate stream data for the
40 four components.
41 -level2
43 Generate Level 2 PostScript. Level 2 supports color images and
44 image compression. This is the default setting.
45 -level2sep
47 Generate Level 2 separable PostScript. All colors are converted
48 to CMYK. The PostScript separation convention operators are
49 used to handle custom (spot) colors.
50 -level3
52 Generate Level 3 PostScript. This enables all Level 2 features
53 plus CID font embedding.
54 -level3sep
56 Generate Level 3 separable PostScript. The separation handling
57 is the same as for -level2sep.
58 -eps Generate an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file. An EPS file
60 contains a single image, so if you use this option with a multi-
61 page PDF file, you must use -f and -l to specify a single page.
62 No more than one of the mode options (-eps, -form) may be given.
63 -form Generate a PostScript form which can be imported by software
65 that understands forms. A form contains a single page, so if
66 you use this option with a multi-page PDF file, you must use -f
67 and -l to specify a single page. The -level1 option cannot be
68 used with -form. No more than one of the mode options (-eps,
69 -form) may be given.
70 -opi Generate OPI comments for all images and forms which have OPI
72 information. (This option is only available if pdftops was com‐
73 piled with OPI support.)
74 -binary
76 Write binary data in Level 1 PostScript. By default, pdftops
77 writes hex-encoded data in Level 1 PostScript. Binary data is
78 non-standard in Level 1 PostScript but reduces the file size and
79 can be useful when Level 1 PostScript is required only for its
80 restricted use of PostScript operators.
81 -r number
83 Set the resolution in DPI when pdftops rasterizes images with
84 transparencies or, for Level 1 PostScript, when pdftops raster‐
85 izes images with color masks. By default, pdftops rasterizes
86 images to 300 DPI.
87 -noembt1
89 By default, any Type 1 fonts which are embedded in the PDF file
90 are copied into the PostScript file. This option causes pdftops
91 to substitute base fonts instead. Embedded fonts make Post‐
92 Script files larger, but may be necessary for readable output.
93 -noembtt
95 By default, any TrueType fonts which are embedded in the PDF
96 file are copied into the PostScript file. This option causes
97 pdftops to substitute base fonts instead. Embedded fonts make
98 PostScript files larger, but may be necessary for readable out‐
99 put. Also, some PostScript interpreters do not have TrueType
100 rasterizers.
101 -noembcidps
103 By default, any CID PostScript fonts which are embedded in the
104 PDF file are copied into the PostScript file. This option dis‐
105 ables that embedding. No attempt is made to substitute for non-
106 embedded CID PostScript fonts.
107 -noembcidtt
109 By default, any CID TrueType fonts which are embedded in the PDF
110 file are copied into the PostScript file. This option disables
111 that embedding. No attempt is made to substitute for non-embed‐
112 ded CID TrueType fonts.
113 -passfonts
115 By default, references to non-embedded 8-bit fonts in the PDF
116 file are substituted with the closest "Helvetica", "Times-Ro‐
117 man", or "Courier" font. This option passes references to non-
118 embedded fonts through to the PostScript file.
119 -aaRaster yes | no
121 Enable or disable raster anti-aliasing. This defaults to "no".
122 pdftops may need to rasterize transparencies and pattern image
123 masks in the PDF. If the PostScript will be printed, leave
124 -aaRaster disabled and set -r to the resolution of the printer.
125 If the PostScript will be viewed, enabling -aaRaster may make
126 rasterized text easier to read.
127 -rasterize always | never | whenneeded
129 By default, pdftops rasterizes pages as needed, for example, if
130 they contain transparencies. To force rasterization, set -ras‐
131 terize to "always". Use this to eliminate fonts. To prevent
132 rasterization, set -rasterize to "never". This may produce files
133 that display incorrectly.
134 -processcolorformat MONO8 | CMYK8 | RGB8
136 Sets the process color format as it is used during rasterization
137 and transparency reduction. The default depends on the other
138 settings: For -level1 the default is MONO8, for -level{1,2,3}sep
139 or -overprint the default is CMYK8, and in all other cases RGB8
140 is the default. If -processcolorprofile is given then -process‐
141 colorformat is inferred from the specified ICC profile.
142 -processcolorprofile filename
144 Sets the ICC profile that is assumed during rasterization and
145 transparency reduction.
146 -defaultgrayprofile defaultgrayprofilefile
148 If poppler is compiled with colour management support, this op‐
149 tion sets the DefaultGray color space to the ICC profile stored
150 in defaultgrayprofilefile.
151 -defaultrgbprofile defaultrgbprofilefile
153 If poppler is compiled with colour management support, this op‐
154 tion sets the DefaultRGB color space to the ICC profile stored
155 in defaultrgbprofilefile.
156 -defaultcmykprofile defaultcmykprofilefile
158 If poppler is compiled with colour management support, this op‐
159 tion sets the DefaultCMYK color space to the ICC profile stored
160 in defaultcmykprofilefile.
161 -optimizecolorspace
163 By default, bitmap images in the PDF pass through to the output
164 PostScript in their original color space, which produces pre‐
165 dictable results. This option converts RGB and CMYK images into
166 Gray images if every pixel of the image has equal components.
167 This can fix problems when doing color separations of PDFs that
168 contain embedded black and white images encoded as RGB.
169 -preload
171 preload images and forms
172 -paper size
174 Set the paper size to one of "letter", "legal", "A4", or "A3".
175 This can also be set to "match", which will set the paper size
176 of each page to match the size specified in the PDF file. If
177 none the -paper, -paperw, or -paperh options are specified the
178 default is to match the paper size.
179 -paperw size
181 Set the paper width, in points.
182 -paperh size
184 Set the paper height, in points.
185 -origpagesizes
187 This option is the same as "-paper match".
188 -nocrop
190 By default, output is cropped to the CropBox specified in the
191 PDF file. This option disables cropping.
192 -expand
194 Expand PDF pages smaller than the paper to fill the paper. By
195 default, these pages are not scaled.
196 -noshrink
198 Don't scale PDF pages which are larger than the paper. By de‐
199 fault, pages larger than the paper are shrunk to fit.
200 -nocenter
202 By default, PDF pages smaller than the paper (after any scaling)
203 are centered on the paper. This option causes them to be
204 aligned to the lower-left corner of the paper instead.
205 -duplex
207 Set the Duplex pagedevice entry in the PostScript file. This
208 tells duplex-capable printers to enable duplexing.
209 -opw password
211 Specify the owner password for the PDF file. Providing this
212 will bypass all security restrictions.
213 -upw password
215 Specify the user password for the PDF file.
216 -overprint
218 Enable overprint emulation during rasterization. For -process‐
219 colorformat being CMYK8 and the language level being higher than
220 2, this option is set to true by default. Note: This option re‐
221 quires -processcolorformat to be CMYK8.
222 -q Don't print any messages or errors.
224 -v Print copyright and version information.
226 -h Print usage information. (-help and --help are equivalent.)
228
230 The Xpdf tools use the following exit codes:
231 0 No error.
233 1 Error opening a PDF file.
235 2 Error opening an output file.
237 3 Error related to PDF permissions.
239 99 Other error.
241
243 The pdftops software and documentation are copyright 1996-2011 Glyph &
244 Cog, LLC.
245
247 pdfdetach(1), pdffonts(1), pdfimages(1), pdfinfo(1), pdftocairo(1),
248 pdftohtml(1), pdftoppm(1), pdftotext(1) pdfseparate(1), pdfsig(1),
249 pdfunite(1)
250 15 August 2011 pdftops(1)