pylopdf

Japanese README / Documentation: https://yhay81.github.io/pylopdf/ (with a pymupdf migration guide)

PDF editing and rendering for Python, powered by Rust — lopdf for editing and hayro (the pure-Rust PDF renderer adopted by typst) for rendering.

MIT licensed, zero runtime dependencies, lightweight wheels. Covers the common pymupdf use cases without the AGPL.

Why pylopdf?

	pylopdf	pymupdf	pypdf	pypdfium2	pdf_oxide	pikepdf
License	MIT	AGPL / commercial	BSD	Apache/BSD	MIT/Apache-2.0	MPL-2.0
Wheel size	~3.5–4.5 MB	~40 MB+	small (pure Python)	~8 MB	~10–11 MB	~2–5 MB
Editing (merge / split / rotate / outlines)	✅	✅	✅	limited	✅	✅ (structure-focused)
Rendering (PNG / SVG)	✅	✅	❌	✅ (PNG)	❌	❌ (docs point to other tools)
Text extraction	✅ (basic)	✅ (advanced)	✅	✅	✅ (advanced, table detection / Markdown)	❌ (docs point to other tools)
Encryption (AES-256)	✅ read & write	✅	✅	❌	undocumented	✅ (via qpdf)
CJK font fallback	✅ ([cjk] extra)	✅	—	manual	—	—
Implementation	pure Rust	C	Python	C++ (PDFium)	Rust	C++ (qpdf)

• Fits size-constrained environments such as AWS Lambda
• Safe for commercial projects that need to avoid the AGPL
• abi3: one wheel covers Python 3.10–3.14
• v0.10 includes native cp314t wheels for free-threaded Python 3.14
• API modeled after pymupdf

Limitations: multicolumn text follows deterministic whitespace gutters, and find_tables() reconstructs bordered grids from strokes or thin filled rules, including rectangular merged cells. The opt-in find_tables(strategy="text") handles high-confidence borderless layouts, but can interpret aligned multicolumn prose as a table. Automatic table conversion in Document.to_markdown() is not implemented. Vertical CJK columns are reconstructed conservatively and ordered right-to-left; ruby, warichu, and mixed-orientation Japanese typography are not interpreted semantically. There is also no appearance-stream regeneration for forms and annotations (form filling uses NeedAppearances — viewers draw the values). Use pymupdf if you need those. Typesetting, PDF/A output, and digital signatures are covered by the ecosystem recipes below.

Install

pip install pylopdf

To render Japanese PDFs without embedded fonts, install the optional CJK fonts (Noto Sans/Serif JP, auto-detected at render time):

pip install pylopdf[cjk]

Building from source (requires a Rust toolchain):

uv sync

Concurrency and free-threaded Python

Starting with v0.10, pylopdf supports concurrent work on distinct Document objects. Heavy native operations release the GIL, and the cp314-cp314t wheel keeps the GIL disabled on free-threaded Python 3.14. Calls or edits on the same Document must be serialized; use Document.render_pages(workers=...) for supported parallel rendering within one document.

Pixmap is immutable. The cp314t wheel supports read-only, zero-copy memoryview(pixmap); the Python 3.10-compatible abi3 wheel uses the one-copy pixmap.samples fallback. See the full concurrency contract.

Usage

import pylopdf

# Open from a path or bytes
doc = pylopdf.open("input.pdf")
doc = pylopdf.open(stream=pdf_bytes)

# Page count
print(doc.page_count)  # same as len(doc)

# Metadata
print(doc.metadata["title"])
doc.set_metadata({"title": "Monthly Report", "author": "Alice"})

# Text extraction (0-based page numbers)
text = doc.get_page_text(0)

# Positioned text and search (pymupdf-style, top-left origin)
words = doc[0].get_text("words")     # (x0, y0, x1, y1, word, block, line, word_no)
layout = doc[0].get_text("dict")     # blocks -> lines -> spans with bboxes
rects = doc[0].search_for("tax")     # case-insensitive, list[Rect]
tables = doc[0].find_tables(clip=(30, 30, 500, 700))  # complete bordered grids in a region
text_tables = doc[0].find_tables(strategy="text")  # opt-in borderless tables
confidence = text_tables[0].confidence if text_tables else None  # ranking heuristic, not probability
images = doc[0].get_images()         # [{"width", "height", "bbox", "ext", "image"}]
pix = doc[0].get_pixmap(dpi=144, clip=(0, 0, 300, 200))  # cropped RGBA8 pixels for NumPy / PIL

# Rendering
png: bytes = doc.render_page(0)             # 72 dpi
png2x: bytes = doc.render_page(0, scale=2)  # 144 dpi
png300 = doc.render_page(0, dpi=300)        # by resolution
png_bg = doc.render_page(0, background=(255, 255, 255))  # white background (default: transparent)
batch = doc.render_pages([0, 1, 2], scale=2, workers=4)  # ordered parallel PNGs
svg: str = doc.render_page_svg(0)

# Delete pages (split)
doc.delete_page(0)
doc.delete_pages([1, 2])

# Keep/reorder pages (repeating a page duplicates it)
doc.select([2, 0])

# Page objects (0-based; negative counts from the end)
page = doc[0]
for page in doc:
    print(page.number, page.rect)
page.set_rotation(90)                # display rotation (multiples of 90)
page.set_mediabox((0, 0, 300, 400))  # page boxes

# Insert / copy pages
doc.new_page()          # blank A4 appended
doc.copy_page(0, to=1)  # duplicate page 0 in front of page 1

# Drawing (coordinates are the same top-left display space as search_for / get_text)
page.insert_image((72, 72, 200, 200), filename="logo.png")   # JPEG passthrough, PNG with alpha
page.insert_image(page.search_for("Approved")[0], stream=stamp_png)  # stamp at a search hit
page.show_pdf_page(page.rect, letterhead)  # overlay another PDF page as vectors (watermark / letterhead)
page.replace_text("DRAFT", "FINAL")        # text replacement (simple-encoded fonts only)

# Headers / footers / page numbers (standard-14 fonts, WinAnsi range)
for i, p in enumerate(doc):
    p.insert_text((p.rect.width - 90, p.rect.height - 30), f"Page {i + 1}", fontsize=9)

# Subset-embed an OpenType font for Unicode and CJK text
page.insert_text((40, 80), "社外秘", fontsize=20, fontfile="NotoSansJP-Regular.otf", color=(0.8, 0, 0))

# Annotations: search & highlight / link
page.add_highlight_annot(page.search_for("important"))  # appearance stream included (visible everywhere)
page.add_link_annot(page.search_for("Example")[0], "https://example.com/")
print(page.annots())  # [{"type", "rect", "contents", "uri"}]

# Make scanned PDFs searchable (write external OCR results as an invisible text layer)
page.insert_ocr_text_layer(ocr_words)  # sequence of (x0, y0, x1, y1, text, ...); near-zero size cost, CJK included

# Markdown conversion (RAG / LLM preprocessing; size-based headings, CJK-aware line joining)
md = doc.to_markdown()
md_p1 = doc[0].to_markdown()

# Read the PDF/A self-declaration (validation belongs to veraPDF)
print(doc.get_pdfa_claim())  # e.g. (2, "B") for PDF/A-2b; None if absent

# Forms (AcroForm): read and fill
print(doc.get_form_fields())        # [{"name", "type", "value"}]
doc.set_form_field("customer", "Taro Yamada")
doc.set_form_field("agree", True)   # checkboxes take bool or a state name

# Page labels (display numbers: roman front matter + decimal body, etc.)
doc.set_page_labels([{"startpage": 0, "style": "r"}, {"startpage": 3, "style": "D"}])
print(doc[4].get_label())  # "2"

# File attachments (e.g. attach the XML data to an invoice PDF)
doc.embfile_add("invoice.xml", xml_bytes, filename="invoice-data.xml")
print(doc.embfile_names())  # ["invoice.xml"]
xml = doc.embfile_get("invoice.xml")

# Table of contents (page numbers are 1-based here, pymupdf-compatible)
doc.set_toc([[1, "Chapter 1", 1], [2, "Section 1.1", 2]])
print(doc.get_toc())

# Merge (with ranges, reversed order, and an insertion position)
merged = pylopdf.Document()
merged.insert_pdf(pylopdf.open("a.pdf"))
merged.insert_pdf(pylopdf.open("b.pdf"), from_page=0, to_page=2, start_at=0)

# Save
merged.save("merged.pdf")
data: bytes = merged.tobytes()

# Optimized save (prune unreferenced objects + compress + object streams)
merged.save("small.pdf", garbage=True, deflate=True, object_streams=True)

# Encrypted save (AES-256; owner_pw alone = open freely, restricted permissions)
merged.save("locked.pdf", user_pw="secret", permissions=pylopdf.Permissions.PRINT)

# Fast metadata probe without parsing the whole file
info = pylopdf.peek_metadata("input.pdf")
print(info["title"], info["page_count"], info["encrypted"])

# Context manager
with pylopdf.open("input.pdf") as doc:
    print(doc.metadata)

# Encrypted PDFs (RC4-40/128, AES-128, AES-256; empty user passwords open transparently)
doc = pylopdf.open("locked.pdf", password="secret")
doc = pylopdf.open("locked.pdf")
if doc.needs_pass:
    doc.authenticate("secret")  # 0=failed, 2=user, 4=owner, 6=both

# CJK fallback font for PDFs without embedded fonts
# (automatic with pylopdf[cjk]; or bring your own font)
doc.set_fallback_font("NotoSansJP-Regular.otf")
doc.set_fallback_font(font_bytes, kind="serif")

Embedded-font insert_text shapes each line with HarfRust and asks krilla to subset and embed the resulting glyphs. Provide a font containing every required glyph; this primitive does not perform font fallback, bidirectional paragraph layout, or line wrapping. RTL glyph shaping works, but extraction currently follows visual rather than logical order. Use typst below when full typesetting is required.

Ecosystem recipes (typesetting, PDF/A, signatures)

pylopdf stays a lightweight core for editing, extraction, and rendering; adjacent concerns are solved by pairing it with established libraries. The recipes below are covered by integration tests (tests/test_interop.py).

Typesetting / creating new documents = typst (via typst-py). Typeset reports with typst and feed the bytes straight into pylopdf:

import typst
import pylopdf

pdf_bytes = typst.compile("report.typ")   # typesetting: typst
doc = pylopdf.open(stream=pdf_bytes)      # editing / extraction / merging: pylopdf

PDF/A for new documents is also typst's job (validated export via krilla; PDF/A-1b through 4 and PDF/UA-1):

pdf_a: bytes = typst.compile("report.typ", pdf_standards="a-2b")

CJK watermarks / headers / footers combine typst with pylopdf: typeset a one-page stamp with typst (fonts get subset-embedded), then burn it onto every page as vectors with show_pdf_page:

from pylopdf_fonts_cjk import sans_path  # pip install pylopdf[cjk] (reuses the Noto fonts)

stamp_typ = """
#set page(width: 595pt, height: 842pt, fill: none)
#set text(font: "Noto Sans JP", size: 48pt, fill: rgb(255, 0, 0, 40%))
#align(center + horizon)[社外秘]
"""
stamp = pylopdf.open(stream=typst.compile(stamp_typ.encode(), font_paths=[str(sans_path().parent)]))
for page in doc:
    page.show_pdf_page((0, 0, page.rect.width, page.rect.height), stamp)

Converting or validating existing PDFs against PDF/A is a different problem; veraPDF (Java) is the de-facto validator.

Digital signatures (PAdES) = pyHanko (MIT). pyHanko signs with an incremental update, so the bytes produced by pylopdf remain untouched as a prefix of the signed file:

import io
from pyhanko.pdf_utils.incremental_writer import IncrementalPdfFileWriter
from pyhanko.sign import signers

signer = signers.SimpleSigner.load("key.pem", "cert.pem")
out = signers.sign_pdf(
    IncrementalPdfFileWriter(io.BytesIO(doc.tobytes())),
    signers.PdfSignatureMetadata(field_name="Signature1"),
    signer=signer,
)
signed_pdf: bytes = out.getvalue()

API

pylopdf.Document (pylopdf.open() is an alias constructor):

Method / property	Description
Document(filename=None, stream=None, password=None, max_decompressed_size=None)	Open from a path or bytes; empty document if both are None. max_decompressed_size validates each stream's decoded size at open time
doc[i] / load_page(pno) / for page in doc	Get a Page view (negative indices count from the end; re-fetch after structural changes)
needs_pass / is_encrypted	Encryption status (pymupdf-compatible semantics)
authenticate(password)	Decrypt with a password (returns 0/1/2/4/6, pymupdf-compatible)
page_count / len(doc)	Number of pages
metadata	Metadata dict (title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer, creationDate, modDate, format)
set_metadata(dict)	Set metadata (empty string deletes the entry)
get_page_text(pno, option="text")	Extract text (or positioned layout: "words" / "blocks" / "dict")
render_page(pno, scale=1.0, dpi=None, background=None)	Render a page to PNG bytes; dpi replaces scale, background is an RGB(A) fill (max 65,535 px per side / 64 MP total)
render_pages(pages=None, scale=1.0, workers=None, ...)	Render ordered PNGs from one immutable snapshot; up to 4 workers by default, with a ~512 MB estimated working-memory concurrency cap
render_page_svg(pno)	Render a page to an SVG string
set_fallback_font(font, kind="sans", index=0)	Set a fallback font (path/bytes) for non-embedded CJK fonts; None disables auto-detection
select(page_numbers)	Keep only the given pages, in the given order (repeats duplicate the page)
delete_page(pno) / delete_pages(iterable)	Delete pages
insert_pdf(other, from_page=0, to_page=-1, start_at=-1)	Merge a page range (negative / reversed ranges; start_at sets the insertion position)
new_page(pno=-1, width=595, height=842) / copy_page(pno, to=-1)	Insert a blank page / duplicate a page
get_toc() / set_toc(toc)	Read/write outlines as [[level, title, page], ...] (page numbers are 1-based here)
to_markdown(pages=None)	Markdown conversion (size-inferred headings, emphasis, CJK-aware joining, bullet normalization, multicolumn and conservative vertical-CJK order; no automatic tables)
get_form_fields() / set_form_field(name, value)	List and fill AcroForm fields (NeedAppearances approach; checkboxes take bool)
get_pdfa_claim()	Read the XMP PDF/A declaration (part, conformance) (a self-claim read, not validation)
embfile_add(name, data, filename=, desc=) / embfile_names() / embfile_get(name) / embfile_del(name)	Add / list / read / delete file attachments (EmbeddedFiles)
get_page_labels() / set_page_labels(labels)	Read/write page label ranges ({"startpage", "style", "prefix", "firstpagenum"})
save(filename, garbage=, deflate=, object_streams=, user_pw=, owner_pw=, permissions=) / tobytes(same)	Save; prune / compress / object streams, or AES-256 encryption via user_pw / owner_pw (the in-memory document stays plain)
close()	Close (supports with)

pylopdf.Page (obtained via doc[i]):

Method / property	Description
number / parent	0-based page number and owning Document
get_label()	Display label of the page ("iv", "A-2", …; empty string if undefined)
get_text(option="text")	Text extraction; "words" / "blocks" / "dict" return positioned layout
to_markdown()	Markdown conversion of this page
search_for(needle)	Case-insensitive text search returning list[Rect]
find_tables(strategy="lines", clip=None)	Detect complete bordered grids and rectangular merged cells; use strategy="text" for opt-in borderless detection; clip filters in display coordinates and results expose confidence diagnostics
get_images()	Extract page images (original JPEG bytes passed through; others as PNG)
get_pixmap(scale, dpi=, background=, clip=None)	Render to an immutable Pixmap; clip is a display-coordinate rectangle (straight RGBA8: samples / width / height / stride / tobytes(); cp314t also supports read-only zero-copy memoryview())
insert_image(rect, filename=/stream=, keep_proportion=True, overlay=True)	Draw an image (JPEG without recompression, PNG with alpha; rect in display coordinates)
show_pdf_page(rect, src, pno=0, keep_proportion=True, overlay=True)	Overlay a page from another document as vectors (watermarks / stamps / letterheads)
insert_text(point, text, fontsize=11, fontname="helv", color=(0,0,0))	Print text with a standard-14 font (WinAnsi range; \n for multiple lines; upright on rotated pages)
insert_ocr_text_layer(words)	Write OCR results as an invisible text layer (searchable PDFs; no font embedding, near-zero size)
annots()	Read annotations ({"type", "rect", "contents", "uri"} dicts; rect in display coordinates)
add_highlight_annot(rects, color=(1,1,0), opacity=0.4, content=None)	Highlight annotation; feed search_for results directly; appearance stream included
add_link_annot(rect, uri)	URI link annotation (no border)
replace_text(search, replacement, default_char=None)	Replace text (simple-encoded fonts only; returns the count; no CJK)
render(scale, dpi=, background=) / render_svg()	Rendering
rotation / set_rotation(deg)	Display rotation (multiples of 90, inheritance-resolved)
mediabox / cropbox / rect	Page boxes (Rect); rect is the rotation-aware visible rectangle
set_mediabox(rect) / set_cropbox(rect)	Set page boxes

Module level:

Name	Description
peek_metadata(filename/stream, password=None)	Fast metadata / page-count / encryption probe without parsing the whole file
Permissions	Encryption permission flags (IntFlag)
Rect	Rectangle NamedTuple with width / height
Exceptions	PdfError (ValueError-compatible base), PasswordError, DocumentClosedError, EncryptedDocumentError, StalePageError

For low-level access, use pylopdf.pylopdf_core._Document (a thin lopdf wrapper) directly.

Architecture

Follows the division of labor in the 2026 Rust PDF ecosystem:

pylopdf.Document (Python, pymupdf-style API)
   └─ _Document (PyO3)
        ├─ lopdf 0.44   … editing: open → modify → save
        └─ hayro 0.7    … rendering: PNG / SVG (standard fonts embedded)

rust/          # PyO3 bindings
src/pylopdf/   # Python high-level API
tests/         # pytest (Rust behavior is verified through Python tests)

uv sync                    # build + install dependencies
uv run pytest              # tests
uv run ruff check .        # lint
uv run mypy src tests      # type check
uv build --wheel           # build a wheel

uv sync detects Rust source changes and rebuilds automatically (via tool.uv.cache-keys).

Contributing

Bug reports and focused contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for development commands, test expectations, and the rules for sharing PDF regression files. Report security vulnerabilities privately through GitHub Security Advisories.

Benchmarks

A reproducible benchmark ships with the repo (same corpus, same tasks, medians — wins and losses are published as-is). See bench/results/latest.md for the latest numbers with environment details:

uv sync --all-extras --group bench && uv run python bench/run.py

License

MIT (lopdf is MIT; hayro is MIT/Apache-2.0)