pdf-parse

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

Getting Started with v2 (Coming from v1)

// v1
const pdf = require('pdf-parse');
pdf(buffer).then(result => console.log(result.text));

// v2
const { PDFParse } = require('pdf-parse');
const parser = new PDFParse({ data: buffer });

parser.getText().then((result)=>{
    console.log(result.text)
}).finally(async ()=>{
    await parser.destroy();
});

Features

• Supports Node.js and browsers
• CommonJS and ESM support
• Can be integrated with React, Vue, Angular, or any other web framework
• Vulnerability and security info: security policy
• Extract document info : getInfo
• Extract page text : getText
• Render pages as PNG : getScreenshot
• Extract embedded images : getImage
• Detect and extract tabular data : getTable
• Well-covered with unit tests (see unit tests) ensuring core functionality and fast feedback
• Integration tests to validate end-to-end behavior across environments
• 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, see benchmark results.

Supported Node.js Versions

• Supported: Node.js 20 (>= 20.16.0), Node.js 22 (>= 22.3.0), Node.js 23 (>= 23.0.0), and Node.js 24 (>= 24.0.0).
• Not supported: Node.js 21.x, and Node.js 19.x and earlier.

Integration tests run on Node.js 20–24 (see test_integration.yml).

Installation

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

Usage

getInfo — Extract Metadata and Document Information

// 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 info = await parser.getInfo();
await parser.destroy();

console.log(`Total pages: ${info.total}`);
console.log(`Title: ${info.info?.Title}`);
console.log(`Author: ${info.info?.Author}`);
console.log(`Creator: ${info.info?.Creator}`);
console.log(`Producer: ${info.info?.Producer}`);

// Access parsed date information
const dates = info.getDateNode();
console.log(`Creation Date: ${dates.CreationDate}`);
console.log(`Modification Date: ${dates.ModDate}`);

// Links, pageLabel, width, height (when `parseHyperlinks` is enabled)
console.log(`Per-page information: ${info.pages}`);

Usage Examples:

• Parse hyperlinks from pages: test/test-get-info
• To extract hyperlinks, pass { parseHyperlinks: true }
• const info = await parser.getInfo({ parseHyperlinks: true })

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();
await parser.destroy();
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: password.test.ts
• Parse only specific pages: specific-pages.test.ts
• Parse embedded hyperlinks: hyperlink.test.ts
• Set verbosity level: password.test.ts
• Load PDF from URL: url.test.ts
• Load PDF from base64 data: base64.test.ts
• Loading large files (> 10 MB): large-file.test.ts

getScreenshot — Render Pages as 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.getScreenshot();
await parser.destroy();

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();
await parser.destroy();

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();
await parser.destroy();

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

Worker Configuration (Node.js/Backend)

In Node.js environments, pdf-parse automatically handles the worker configuration. However, in certain scenarios—such as custom builds, Electron/NW.js, monorepos (pnpm/yarn workspaces), or specific deployment environments—you may need to manually configure the worker source.

Note: If you encounter "Invalid URL" errors with worker imports and need to manually configure the worker source, please open an issue. Normally, you don't need this configuration as it's handled automatically.

When using CommonJS in Node.js, you need to convert the worker path to a file:// URL to avoid module resolution issues:

const { PDFParse } = require('pdf-parse');
const { pathToFileURL } = require('url');

// Resolve the worker module path
const workerPath = require.resolve('pdfjs-dist/legacy/build/pdf.worker.mjs');

// Convert to file:// URL for Node.js dynamic import compatibility
const workerUrl = pathToFileURL(workerPath).href;

// Set worker before creating PDFParse instances
PDFParse.setWorker(workerUrl);

// Now you can use PDFParse

For ES Modules in Node.js, you can use import.meta.resolve (Node.js 20.6+) or construct the path manually:

import { PDFParse } from 'pdf-parse';
import { pathToFileURL } from 'url';
import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
import { dirname, resolve } from 'path';

// Option 1: Using import.meta.resolve (Node.js 20.6+)
const workerUrl = pathToFileURL(
    fileURLToPath(await import.meta.resolve('pdfjs-dist/legacy/build/pdf.worker.mjs'))
).href;

// Option 2: Manual path resolution (compatible with older Node.js versions)
const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
const __dirname = dirname(__filename);
const workerPath = resolve(__dirname, 'node_modules/pdfjs-dist/legacy/build/pdf.worker.mjs');
const workerUrl = pathToFileURL(workerPath).href;

// Set worker before creating PDFParse instances
PDFParse.setWorker(workerUrl);

// Now you can use PDFParse

Error Handling

const parser = new PDFParse({ data: buffer });
try {
    const result = await parser.getText();
} catch (error) {
    console.error('PDF parsing failed:', error);
} finally {
    // Always call destroy() to free memory
    await parser.destroy();
}

Web / Browser

• Can be integrated into React, Vue, Angular, or any other web framework.
• Live Demo: https://mehmet-kozan.github.io/pdf-parse/
• Demo Source Code: gh-pages branch

CDN Usage

<!-- ES Module -->
<script type="module">
  import { PDFParse } from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pdf-parse@latest/dist/browser/pdf-parse.es.min.js';
</script>

CDN Options: https://www.jsdelivr.com/package/npm/pdf-parse

• https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pdf-parse@latest/dist/browser/pdf-parse.es.js
• https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pdf-parse@2.2.7/dist/browser/pdf-parse.es.min.js
• https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pdf-parse@latest/dist/browser/pdf-parse.umd.js
• https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pdf-parse@2.2.7/dist/browser/pdf-parse.es.umd.js

Worker Configuration

In browser environments, pdf-parse requires a separate worker file to process PDFs in a background thread. By default, pdf-parse automatically loads the worker from the jsDelivr CDN. However, you can configure a custom worker source if needed.

When to Configure Worker Source:

• Using a custom build of pdf-parse
• Self-hosting worker files for security or offline requirements
• Using a different CDN provider

Available Worker Files:

• https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pdf-parse@latest/dist/browser/pdf.worker.mjs
• https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/pdf-parse@latest/dist/browser/pdf.worker.min.mjs

See example/basic.html for a working example of browser usage with worker configuration.