PDF to Image via HTTP API

Overview

This page serves as a guide for using the PDFCrowd API to convert PDF into images. You can call the API by sending an HTTP request to the API server address with options passed as POST data.

Quick Start

Below are examples to help you quickly get started with the API. Explore our additional examples for more insights.

For a multi-page PDF, the API returns a ZIP archive containing an image for each page. For a single-page PDF, the output is directly an image (e.g., PNG). To determine the output format, check the Content-Type response header. You can enforce the use of a ZIP archive by using force_zip.

curl -f -u demo:ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d \
    -o invoice.zip \
    -F input_format=pdf \
    -F output_format=png \
    -F force_zip=true \
    -F file=@/path/to/invoice.pdf \
    https://api.pdfcrowd.com/convert/24.04/

curl -f -u demo:ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d \
    -o invoice.zip \
    -F input_format=pdf \
    -F output_format=png \
    -F force_zip=true \
    -F url=https://pdfcrowd.com/static/pdf/apisamples/invoice.pdf \
    https://api.pdfcrowd.com/convert/24.04/

Authentication

To access the API, you will need to use your PDFCrowd username and API key. For initial testing, you may use the following demo credentials without registering:

Username: demo
API key: ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d

To obtain your personal API credentials, start a free trial or purchase the API license.

The authentication method is HTTP Basic authentication.

HTTP Basic authentication

To authenticate, add the following HTTP header to your request. <credentials> is the Base64 encoding of your username and API key joined by a single colon.

Authorization: Basic <credentials>

Server Address

The server address: https://api.pdfcrowd.com/convert/24.04/

The content type for POST requests must be `multipart/form-data` if the request uploads any local files. Otherwise, `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` can also be used.

Show older API versions.

Response Headers

The HTTP response contains the following headers.

Name	Description
x-pdfcrowd-debug-log	URL of the debug log
x-pdfcrowd-remaining-credits	The number of conversion credits remaining in your account
x-pdfcrowd-consumed-credits	The number of credits used for the conversion
x-pdfcrowd-job-id	The unique identifier for the conversion
x-pdfcrowd-output-size	Size of the output data in bytes

Troubleshooting

If you are receiving an error, refer to the API Status Codes for more information.
Use debug_log to obtain detailed information about the conversion process, including load errors, load times, browser console output, etc.
Consult the FAQ for answers to common questions.
Contact us if you need assistance or if there is a feature you are missing.

POST Parameter Reference

Refer to the PDF to Image POST Reference for a description of all options.

PDF to Image / HTTP API Guide