Adding `pdfium` library as a dependency

Run this command in a terminal, in your project's directory:

cargo add pdfium

To add it manually, edit your project's Cargo.toml file and add to the [dependencies] section:

pdfium = "0.10.2"

The pdfium library will be automatically available globally. Read the pdfium library documentation.

Back to the crate overview.

Readme

PDFium-rs

A modern, streamlined Rust interface to the PDFium C library, designed for simplicity and thread safety in interactive applications. PDFium is Google's PDF library developed for (and used in) the Chromium and Chrome web browsers.

Features

Thread-safe static library access - Initialize once, use everywhere
Lifetime-free API - No complex lifetime management for documents, pages, and bitmaps
Access to C API - Safe access to the full C API. All 440+ functions are available, fully documented
Idiomatic Rust abstractions - An idiomatic high-level Rust interface to the most frequently used features
Renderer selection - Select either Skia or AGG (Anti-Grain Geometry) as renderer for PDFium

Why This Crate?

While existing PDFium bindings for Rust are available, this crate takes a different approach focused on ease of use and thread safety:

Thread-Safe Static Access

This library uses a modern, static, and thread-safe initialization pattern with parking_lot::ReentrantMutex. On first use, it checks for the availability of the PDFium dynamic library on your system or in a specified directory, and stores the library reference statically for the application's lifetime. This eliminates the need for complex library management and prevents deadlocks when used multiple times in the same thread.

No Lifetime Complexity

Unlike other implementations, this crate doesn't impose lifetimes on structs representing documents, pages, bitmaps, and other structures. This makes integration into your application much simpler - you can store these objects wherever you need them without fighting the borrow checker. They are even clonable. This makes it ideal for interactive use cases, such as PDF viewers, editors, and other real-time applications.

Access to the full C API without `unsafe` Functions

While most users will be using the high-level idiomatic Rust abstractions, PDFium-rs does provide safe public access to the entire C API with full documentation. Unsafe pointers to C structures and memory have been transparently replaced with their Rust counterparts. This feature makes it also possible to seamlessly mix idiomatic Rust functions with the C API functions.

Used by MView6

PDFium-rs serves as one of the two PDF engines behind MView6, a PDF and photo viewer written in Rust and GTK4 by the same author. With a single keypress, you can switch engines and compare the rendering quality differences between mupdf and PDFium.

Quick Start

use pdfium::*;

struct App {
    doc: PdfiumDocument,
}

impl App {
    pub fn new(filename: &str) -> PdfiumResult<Self> {
        Ok(App {
            doc: PdfiumDocument::new_from_path(filename, None)?,
        })
    }
    pub fn render_to_file(&self, filename: &str, index: i32) -> PdfiumResult<()> {
        let page = self.doc.page(index)?;
        let config = PdfiumRenderConfig::new().with_height(1080);
        let bitmap = page.render(&config).unwrap();
        bitmap.save(filename, image::ImageFormat::Png)
    }
}

fn main() -> PdfiumResult<()> {
    let app = App::new("resources/groningen.pdf")?;
    app.render_to_file("groningen-page-1-rust.png", 0)
}

Lifetimes

The quick start example already shows PDFium-rs is easy with lifetimes: a PdfiumDocument can be stored in a struct without lifetime issues. The same applies to all other PDFium-rs structs.

They are also clonable and the library will track their usage and close when possible, as shown below:

use pdfium::*;

let document = PdfiumDocument::new_from_path("resources/groningen.pdf", None).unwrap();
let page = document.page(0).unwrap();
drop(document); // Demonstrate that the page can be used after the document is dropped.
let config = PdfiumRenderConfig::new().with_height(1080);
let bitmap = page.render(&config).unwrap();
bitmap.save("groningen-drop-demo.jpg", image::ImageFormat::Jpeg);

Using the PDFium C API

This is the same example as the quick start, but now using the C API of PDFium directly.

Using the C API is safe, no unsafe code blocks in your code
Access the C API through [lib] or try_lib
You can mix idiomatic Rust with C, shown here with the bitmap.save operation

use pdfium::*;

struct App {
    doc: PdfiumDocument,
}

impl App {
    pub fn new(filename: &str) -> PdfiumResult<Self> {
        Ok(App {
            doc: PdfiumDocument::new_from_path(filename, None)?,
        })
    }
    pub fn render_to_file(&self, filename: &str, index: i32) -> PdfiumResult<()> {
        let page = lib().FPDF_LoadPage(&self.doc, index)?;
        let mut left = 0.0;
        let mut bottom = 0.0;
        let mut right = 0.0;
        let mut top = 0.0;
        lib().FPDFPage_GetMediaBox(&page, &mut left, &mut bottom, &mut right, &mut top)?;
        let height = 1080;
        let scale = height as f32 / (top - bottom);
        let width = ((right - left) * scale) as i32;
        let matrix = pdfium_types::FS_MATRIX {
            a: scale,
            b: 0.0,
            c: 0.0,
            d: scale,
            e: 0.0,
            f: 0.0,
        };
        let bitmap = lib().FPDFBitmap_Create(width, height, 1)?;
        lib().FPDFBitmap_FillRect(&bitmap, 0, 0, width, height, 0xffffffff)?;
        let clipping = pdfium_types::FS_RECTF {
            left: 0.0,
            top: height as f32,
            right: width as f32,
            bottom: 0.0,
        };
        lib().FPDF_RenderPageBitmapWithMatrix(&bitmap, &page, &matrix, &clipping, 0);
        bitmap.save(filename, image::ImageFormat::Png)?;
        Ok(())
    }
}

fn main() -> PdfiumResult<()> {
    let app = App::new("resources/groningen.pdf")?;
    app.render_to_file("groningen-page-1-c.png", 0)
}

More examples

You can find more information on how to use PDFium-rs in the examples/ directory.

Installation

Add this to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
pdfium = "0.10.2"  # Check crates.io for the latest version

For the latest version, visit crates.io or use cargo search pdfium.

Dynamic Library Requirements

PDFium-rs requires the PDFium dynamic library to be available on your system:

Linux: libpdfium.so
Windows: pdfium.dll
macOS: libpdfium.dylib

Obtaining PDFium Libraries

Pre-built libraries for all major platforms are available from: https://github.com/bblanchon/pdfium-binaries/releases

Choose the appropriate build for your target platform and architecture (x64, arm64, etc.).

Library Installation

Option 1: System Installation (Recommended for Linux/macOS)

Linux: Place in /usr/lib/, /usr/local/lib/, or /usr/lib/your_app/
macOS: Place in /usr/local/lib/ or /opt/homebrew/lib/
Use set_library_location to specify custom paths

Option 2: Application Bundle (Recommended for Windows)

Windows: Place pdfium.dll in the same directory as your executable

Option 3: Custom Location

use pdfium::*;

// Set custom library path before first use
set_library_location("/path/to/your/pdfium/library/");

// Your application code...
let doc = PdfiumDocument::new_from_path("document.pdf", None);

Renderer Selection: `Skia` or `AGG`

PDFium currently supports two rendering backends. You can select Skia over AGG (Anti-Grain Geometry) using the set_use_skia function:

use pdfium::*;

// Use Skia renderer (must be called before first PDFium usage)
set_use_skia(true);

// Your application code...
let doc = PdfiumDocument::new_from_path("document.pdf", None);

Supported Platforms

Linux: x86_64, aarch64 (ARM64)
Windows: x86_64, x86 (32-bit)
macOS: x86_64, aarch64 (Apple Silicon)

All platforms require their respective PDFium dynamic libraries.

Troubleshooting

Library Loading Errors

/// Error loading or initializing the PDFium library
PdfiumError::LibraryError(String)

Solutions

Verify the PDFium library is in the correct location
Check that the library architecture matches your application (64-bit vs 32-bit)
On Linux, verify library dependencies with ldd libpdfium.so
Use set_library_location to specify the exact path
Ensure file permissions allow reading the library

Windows-Specific Issues

Install Visual C++ Redistributable if you encounter DLL loading errors
Ensure pdfium.dll is in your PATH or application directory

macOS-Specific Issues

You may need to remove quarantine attributes: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine libpdfium.dylib
For unsigned libraries, you might need to approve them in System Preferences > Security & Privacy

Runtime Errors

This might indicate an incompatible PDFium library version. Try downloading a different build from the pdfium-binaries releases.

Getting Help

If you encounter issues not covered here:

Check the GitHub Issues
Verify your PDFium library version compatibility
Include your platform, Rust version, and PDFium library source when reporting issues

Current Status

This crate is actively being developed and already implements a safe Rust interface to the full C API (all 440+ fuctions).

The idomatic abstraction is focused on a subset of PDFium's functionality. While it covers the core rendering and document manipulation features needed for most interactive applications, it doesn't (yet) provide the complete feature set.

What's Available

Document loading and basic properties
Page rendering with customizable parameters
Bitmap handling and export
Thread-safe access patterns
Full safe C API access

Planned Features

Text extraction and search
Form field support
Annotation handling
Additional rendering options
Security and encryption support
Bookmarks and navigation

Requirements

Rust 1.87 or later
PDFium dynamic library (see installation instructions)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues, feature requests, or pull requests.

After cloning the repository, install the git hooks:

./scripts/install-hooks.sh

License

PDFium-rs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

Adding pdfium library as a dependency

Adding `pdfium` library as a dependency