pdftops(1)

NAME
pdftops - Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (version 4.02)

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 /usr/local/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 commands. 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 options (-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 compiled 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 PostScript 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 output. 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 disables that embedding. No attempt is made to substitute for non-embedded CID PostScript fonts. [config file: psEmbedCIDPostScriptFonts]

-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-embedded 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 generates 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: psExpandSmaller]

-noshrink
    Don't scale PDF pages which are larger than the paper. By default, 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 MediaBox is used as the page size. [config file: psUseCropBoxAsPage]

-userunit
    Honor the UserUnit settings on PDF pages when computing page/paper 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.

-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.

99  Other error.

AUTHOR
The pdftops software and documentation are copyright 1996-2019 Glyph & Cog, LLC.

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