pdf-parse

A pure TypeScript/JavaScript, cross-platform module for extracting text, images, and tabular data from PDF files.

Contributing Note: When opening an issue, please attach the relevant PDF file if possible. Providing the file will help us reproduce and resolve your issue more efficiently. For detailed guidelines on how to contribute, report bugs, or submit pull requests, see: contributing to pdf-parse

Features

Supports Node.js and browsers
CommonJS and ESM support
Vulnerability and security info : security policy
Extract page text : getText
Extract embedded images : getImage
Render pages as images : pageToImage
Detect and extract tabular data : getTable
For additional usage examples, check the test folder and live demo
Live demo source: gh-pages branch

Similar Packages

pdf2json — Buggy, memory leaks, uncatchable errors in some PDF files.
pdfdataextract — pdf-parse based
unpdf — pdf-parse based
pdf-extract — Not cross-platform, depends on xpdf
j-pdfjson — Fork of pdf2json
pdfreader — Uses pdf2json
pdf-extract — Not cross-platform, depends on xpdf

Benchmark Note: The benchmark currently runs only against pdf2json. I don't know the current state of pdf2json — the original reason for creating pdf-parse was to work around stability issues with pdf2json. I deliberately did not include pdf-parse or other pdf.js-based packages in the benchmark because dependencies conflict. If you have recommendations for additional packages to include, please open an issue.benchmark results

Installation

npm install pdf-parse
# or
pnpm add pdf-parse
# or
yarn add pdf-parse
# or
bun add pdf-parse

Basic Usage

High-level helper for v1 compatibility: pdf
Full API: PDFParse

CommonJS Example, helper for v1 compatibility

const pdf  = require('pdf-parse');
// or 
// const {pdf,PDFParse}  = require('pdf-parse');
const fs = require('fs');

const data = fs.readFileSync('test.pdf');

pdf(data).then(result=>{
    console.log(result.text);
});

getText — Extract Text

// Node / ESM
import { PDFParse } from 'pdf-parse';
import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const buffer = await readFile('test/test-01/test.pdf');

const parser = new PDFParse({ data: buffer });
const textResult = await parser.getText();
console.log(textResult.text);

For a complete list of configuration options, see:

DocumentInitParameters - PDF.js document initialization options
ParseParameters - pdf-parse specific options

Usage Examples

Parse password protected PDF: test/test-06-password
Parse only specific pages: test/test-parse-parameters
Parse embedded hyperlinks: test/test-hyperlinks
Load PDF from URL: test/test-types

pageToImage — Render Page to PNG

// Node / ESM
import { PDFParse } from 'pdf-parse';
import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const buffer = await readFile('test/test-01/test.pdf');

const parser = new PDFParse({ data: buffer });
const result = await parser.pageToImage();

for (const pageData of result.pages) {
    const imgFileName = `page_${pageData.pageNumber}.png`;
    await writeFile(imgFileName, pageData.data, { flag: 'w' });
}

getImage — Extract Embedded Images

// Node / ESM
import { PDFParse } from 'pdf-parse';
import { readFile, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const buffer = await readFile('test/test-01/test.pdf');

const parser = new PDFParse({ data: buffer });
const result = await parser.getImage();

for (const pageData of result.pages) {
    for (const pageImage of pageData.images) {
        const imgFileName = `page_${pageData.pageNumber}-${pageImage.fileName}.png`;
        await writeFile(imgFileName, pageImage.data, { flag: 'w' });
    }
}

getTable — Extract Tabular Data

// Node / ESM
import { PDFParse } from 'pdf-parse';
import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const buffer = await readFile('test/test-01/test.pdf');

const parser = new PDFParse({ data: buffer });
const result = await parser.getTable();

for (const pageData of result.pages) {
    for (const table of pageData.tables) {
        console.log(table);
    }
}

Web / Browser

After running npm run build, you will find both regular and minified browser bundles in dist/browser (e.g., pdf-parse.es.js and pdf-parse.es.min.js).
Check: live demo
Live demo source: gh-pages branch

Use the minified versions (.min.js) for production to reduce file size, or the regular versions for development and debugging.

You can use any of the following browser bundles depending on your module system and requirements:

pdf-parse.es.js or pdf-parse.es.min.js for ES modules

pdf-parse.umd.js or pdf-parse.umd.min.js for UMD/global usage

You can include the browser bundle directly from a CDN. Use the latest version:

Or specify a particular version:

Worker Note: In browser environments, the package sets pdfjs.GlobalWorkerOptions.workerSrc automatically when imported from the built browser bundle. If you use a custom build or host pdf.worker yourself, configure pdfjs accordingly.