pdftops(1)                  General Commands Manual                 pdftops(1)



NAME
       pdftops  - Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (ver-
       sion 4.06)

SYNOPSIS
       pdftops [options] [PDF-file [PS-file]]

DESCRIPTION
       Pdftops converts Portable Document Format (PDF) files to PostScript  so
       they can be printed.

       Pdftops reads the PDF file, PDF-file, and writes a PostScript file, PS-
       file.  If PS-file  is  not  specified,  pdftops  converts  file.pdf  to
       file.ps  (or  file.eps  with  the -eps option).  If PS-file is '-', the
       PostScript is sent to stdout.

CONFIGURATION FILE
       Pdftops reads a configuration file at startup.  It first tries to  find
       the  user's  private config file, ~/.xpdfrc.  If that doesn't exist, it
       looks for a system-wide config file, typically  /etc/xpdfrc  (but  this
       location  can be changed when pdftops is built).  See the xpdfrc(5) man
       page for details.

OPTIONS
       Many of the following options can be set with configuration  file  com-
       mands.  These are listed in square brackets with the description of the
       corresponding command line option.

       -f number
              Specifies the first page to print.

       -l number
              Specifies the last page to print.

       -level1
              Generate Level 1 PostScript.   The  resulting  PostScript  files
              will  be significantly larger (if they contain images), but will
              print on Level 1 printers.  This also  converts  all  images  to
              black  and  white.  No more than one of the PostScript level op-
              tions  (-level1,  -level1sep,  -level2,   -level2sep,   -level3,
              -level3sep) may be given.  [config file: psLevel]

       -level1sep
              Generate Level 1 separable PostScript.  All colors are converted
              to CMYK.  Images are written with separate stream data  for  the
              four components.  [config file: psLevel]

       -level2
              Generate  Level 2 PostScript.  Level 2 supports color images and
              image compression.  This is the default setting.  [config  file:
              psLevel]

       -level2gray
              Generate  grayscale  Level  2 PostScript.  All colors, including
              images, are converted to grayscale.  [config file: psLevel]

       -level2sep
              Generate Level 2 separable PostScript.  All colors are converted
              to  CMYK.   The  PostScript  separation convention operators are
              used to handle custom (spot) colors.  [config file: psLevel]

       -level3
              Generate Level 3 PostScript.  This enables all Level 2  features
              plus  CID  font  embedding and masked image generation.  [config
              file: psLevel]

       -level3gray
              Generate grayscale Level 3 PostScript.   All  colors,  including
              images, are converted to grayscale.  [config file: psLevel]

       -level3sep
              Generate  Level 3 separable PostScript.  The separation handling
              is the same as for -level2sep.  [config file: psLevel]

       -eps   Generate an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)  file.   An  EPS  file
              contains a single image, so if you use this option with a multi-
              page PDF file, you must use -f and -l to specify a single  page.
              No more than one of the mode options (-eps, -form) may be given.

       -form  Generate  a  PostScript  form  which can be imported by software
              that understands forms.  A form contains a single  page,  so  if
              you  use this option with a multi-page PDF file, you must use -f
              and -l to specify a single page.  The -level1 option  cannot  be
              used with -form.

       -opi   Generate  OPI  comments  for all images and forms which have OPI
              information.  (This option is only available if pdftops was com-
              piled with OPI support.)  [config file: psOPI]

       -noembt1
              By  default, any Type 1 fonts which are embedded in the PDF file
              are copied into the PostScript file.  This option causes pdftops
              to  substitute  base  fonts  instead.  Embedded fonts make Post-
              Script files larger, but may be necessary for  readable  output.
              [config file: psEmbedType1Fonts]

       -noembtt
              By  default,  any  TrueType  fonts which are embedded in the PDF
              file are copied into the PostScript file.   This  option  causes
              pdftops  to  substitute base fonts instead.  Embedded fonts make
              PostScript files larger, but may be necessary for readable  out-
              put.   Also,  some  PostScript interpreters do not have TrueType
              rasterizers.  [config file: psEmbedTrueTypeFonts]

       -noembcidps
              By default, any CID PostScript fonts which are embedded  in  the
              PDF  file are copied into the PostScript file.  This option dis-
              ables that embedding.  No attempt is made to substitute for non-
              embedded   CID  PostScript  fonts.   [config  file:  psEmbedCID-
              PostScriptFonts]

       -noembcidtt
              By default, any CID TrueType fonts which are embedded in the PDF
              file  are copied into the PostScript file.  This option disables
              that embedding.  No attempt is made to substitute for non-embed-
              ded CID TrueType fonts.  [config file: psEmbedCIDTrueTypeFonts]

       -preload
              Convert  PDF  forms  to  PS  procedures, and preload image data.
              This uses more memory in the PostScript interpreter, but  gener-
              ates  significantly  smaller PS files in situations where, e.g.,
              the same image is drawn on every page of a long document.

       -paper size
              Set the paper size to one of "letter", "legal", "A4",  or  "A3".
              This  can  also be set to "match", which will set the paper size
              to match the size specified in  the  PDF  file.   [config  file:
              psPaperSize]

       -paperw size
              Set the paper width, in points.  [config file: psPaperSize]

       -paperh size
              Set the paper height, in points.  [config file: psPaperSize]

       -nocrop
              By  default,  output  is cropped to the CropBox specified in the
              PDF file.  This option disables cropping.  [config file: psCrop]

       -expand
              Expand PDF pages smaller than the paper to fill the  paper.   By
              default,  these  pages are not scaled.  [config file: psExpandS-
              maller]

       -noshrink
              Don't scale PDF pages which are larger than the paper.   By  de-
              fault,  pages  larger than the paper are shrunk to fit.  [config
              file: psShrinkLarger]

       -nocenter
              By default, PDF pages smaller than the paper (after any scaling)
              are  centered  on  the  paper.   This  option  causes them to be
              aligned to the lower-left corner of the paper instead.   [config
              file: psCenter]

       -pagecrop
              Treat  the CropBox as the PDF page size.  By default, the Media-
              Box is used as the page size.  [config file: psUseCropBoxAsPage]

       -userunit
              Honor the UserUnit settings on PDF pages when computing page/pa-
              per size.  By default, pdftops ignores UserUnit.

       -duplex
              Set  the  Duplex  pagedevice entry in the PostScript file.  This
              tells duplex-capable  printers  to  enable  duplexing.   [config
              file: psDuplex]

       -opw password
              Specify  the  owner  password  for the PDF file.  Providing this
              will bypass all security restrictions.

       -upw password
              Specify the user password for the PDF file.

       -verbose
              Print a status message (to stdout) before processing each  page.
              [config file: printStatusInfo]

       -q     Don't print any messages or errors.  [config file: errQuiet]

       -cfg config-file
              Read config-file in place of ~/.xpdfrc or the system-wide config
              file.

       -v     Print copyright and version information.

       -h     Print usage information.  (-help and --help are equivalent.)

EXIT CODES
       The Xpdf tools use the following exit codes:

       0      No error.

       1      Error opening a PDF file.

       2      Error opening an output file.

       3      Error related to PDF permissions.

       98     Out of memory.

       99     Other error.

AUTHOR
       The pdftops software and documentation are copyright 1996-2025 Glyph  &
       Cog, LLC.

SEE ALSO
       xpdf(1),  pdftotext(1),  pdftohtml(1),  pdfinfo(1), pdffonts(1), pdfde-
       tach(1), pdftoppm(1), pdftopng(1), pdfimages(1), xpdfrc(5)
       http://www.xpdfreader.com/



                                  14 Nov 2025                       pdftops(1)
