PDF from URL

Convert any web page URL into a PDF document with custom margins, paper size, orientation, headers and footers.

Try it live: PDF from URL → API Tester — send a real request from your browser.

POST /v1/pdf/convert/from/url

This method will process any JavaScript which the webpage triggers when it loads. For example if the the webpage triggers a JavaScript popup window then that will be included in the conversion process. There is no option to disable JavaScript on the supplied HTML page.

Attributes

Attributes are case-sensitive and should be inside JSON for POST request. for example: { "url": "https://example.com/file1.pdf" }

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
url	string	Yes	-	URL to the source file url attribute
callback	string	No	-	The callback URL (or Webhook) used to receive the POST data. see Webhooks & Callbacks. This is only applicable when async is set to true.
margins	string	No	-	Set custom margins, overriding CSS default margins. Specify the margins in the format {top} {right} {bottom} {left}. You can usepx,mm,cmorinunits. Also, you can set margins for all sides at once using a single value.
paperSize	string	No	A4	Specifies the paper size. Accepts standard sizes like ‘Letter’, ‘Legal’, ‘Tabloid’, ‘Ledger’, ‘A0’–‘A6’. You can also set a custom size by providing width and height separated by a space, with optional units: px (pixels), mm (millimeters), cm (centimeters), or in (inches). Examples: ‘200 300’, ‘200px 300px’, ‘200mm 300mm’, ‘20cm 30cm’, ‘6in 8in’.
orientation	string	No	Portrait	Sets the document orientation. Options: Portrait for vertical layout, and Landscape for horizontal layout.
printBackground	boolean	No	true	Set to false to disable background colors and images are included when generating PDFs from HTML/URL
mediaType	string	No	print	Controls how content is rendered when converting to PDF. Options: print (uses print styles), screen (uses screen styles), none (no media type applied).
DoNotWaitFullLoad	boolean	No	false	Controls how thoroughly the converter waits for a page to load before converting HTML to PDF --- false waits for full page load, while true speeds up conversion by waiting only for minimal loading.
renderTimeout	integer	No	-	Specifies the maximum time (in milliseconds) to wait for the page to fully render before generating the PDF. Useful for pages with heavy JavaScript, dynamic content, or slow-loading resources. The maximum allowed value is 177000ms (177 seconds).
legacyRendition	boolean	No	false	Forces rendering with an older Chromium version (r970485) to work around version-specific issues where modern browsers can’t paginate certain page structures correctly. Ensures full content is rendered as a long, printable page.
header	string	No	-	Set this to can add user definable HTML for the header to be applied on every page header. The format is html.
footer	string	No	-	Set this to can add user definable HTML for the footer to be applied on every page bottom. The format is html.
async	boolean	No	false	Set async to true for long processes to run in the background, API will then return a jobId which you can use with the Background Job Check endpoint. Also see Webhooks & Callbacks
name	string	No	-	File name for the generated output, the input must be in string format.
expiration	integer	No	60	Set the expiration time for the output link in minutes. After this specified duration, any generated output file(s) will be automatically deleted from PDF.co Temporary Files Storage. The maximum duration for link expiration varies based on your current subscription plan. To store permanent input files (e.g. re-usable images, pdf templates, documents) consider using PDF.co Built-In Files Storage.
profiles	object	No	-	See Profiles for more information.
outputDataFormat	string	No	-	If you require your output as base64 format, set this to base64
DataEncryptionAlgorithm	string	No	-	Controls the encryption algorithm used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information. The available algorithms are: AES128, AES192, AES256.
DataEncryptionKey	string	No	-	Controls the encryption key used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataEncryptionIV	string	No	-	Controls the encryption IV used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataDecryptionAlgorithm	string	No	-	Controls the decryption algorithm used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information. The available algorithms are: AES128, AES192, AES256.
DataDecryptionKey	string	No	-	Controls the decryption key used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataDecryptionIV	string	No	-	Controls the decryption IV used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.

Header & Footer

The header and footer parameters can contain valid HTML markup with the following classes used to inject printing values into them:

date: formatted print date title: document title url: document location pageNumber: current page number totalPages: total pages in the document

img: tag is supported in both the header and footer parameter, provided that the src attribute is specified as a base64-encoded string.

For example, the following markup will generate Page N of NN page numbering:

<span style='font-size:10px'>Page <span class='pageNumber'></span> of <span class='totalPages'></span>.</span>

Query parameters

No query parameters accepted.

Responses

Parameter	Type	Description
url	string	Direct URL to the final PDF file stored in S3.
outputLinkValidTill	string	Timestamp indicating when the output link will expire
pageCount	integer	Number of pages in the PDF document.
error	boolean	Indicates whether an error occurred (false means success)
status	string	Status code of the request (200, 404, 500, etc.). For more information, see Response Codes.
name	string	Name of the output file
credits	integer	Number of credits consumed by the request
remainingCredits	integer	Number of credits remaining in the account
duration	integer	Time taken for the operation in milliseconds

Example Payload

To see the request size limits, please refer to the Request Size Limits.

{
  "url": "https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us",
  "name": "result.pdf",
  "margins": "5mm",
  "paperSize": "Letter",
  "orientation": "Portrait",
  "printBackground": true,
  "header": "",
  "footer": "",
  "mediaType": "print",
  "renderTimeout": 15000,
  "async": false,
  "profiles": "{ \"CustomScript\": \";; // put some custom js script here \"}"
}

Example Response

To see the main response codes, please refer to the Response Codes page.

{
  "url": "https://pdf-temp-files.s3.amazonaws.com/97dc323f32794eae8fa6602f5bd981c1/result.pdf",
  "pageCount": 1,
  "error": false,
  "status": 200,
  "name": "result.pdf",
  "remainingCredits": 60646
}

Inconsistent URL Encoding in cURL Output: When using cURL to make API requests, the output JSON may show URL characters encoded as Unicode escape sequences. For example, the ampersand character (&) may appear as \u0026 in the cURL output. This is normal JSON encoding behavior and does not affect the validity of the URL. The URL will function correctly when used, as JSON parsers automatically decode these escape sequences. If you’re parsing the response programmatically, your JSON parser will handle this conversion automatically.

Code Samples

CURL

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/from/url' \
--header 'x-api-key: *******************' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
"url": "https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us",
"margins": "5mm",
"paperSize": "Letter",
"orientation": "Portrait",
"printBackground": true,
"header": "",
"footer": "",
"mediaType": "print",
"async": false,
"profiles": "{ \"CustomScript\": \";; // put some custom js script here \"}"
}'

JavaScript/Node.js

var https = require("https");
var path = require("path");
var fs = require("fs");


// The authentication key (API Key).
// Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
const API_KEY = "***********************************";


// URL of web page to convert to PDF document.
const SourceUrl = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page";
// Destination PDF file name
const DestinationFile = "./result.pdf";


// Prepare request to `Web Page to PDF` API endpoint
var queryPath = `/v1/pdf/convert/from/url`;
// JSON payload for api request
var jsonPayload = JSON.stringify({
    name: path.basename(DestinationFile), url: SourceUrl 
});

var reqOptions = {
    host: "api.pdf.co",
    method: "POST",
    path: queryPath,
    headers: {
        "x-api-key": API_KEY,
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Content-Length": Buffer.byteLength(jsonPayload, 'utf8')
    }
};
// Send request
var postRequest = https.request(reqOptions, (response) => {
    response.on("data", (d) => {
        // Parse JSON response
        var data = JSON.parse(d);        
        if (data.error == false) {
            // Download PDF file
            var file = fs.createWriteStream(DestinationFile);
            https.get(data.url, (response2) => {
                response2.pipe(file)
                .on("close", () => {
                    console.log(`Generated PDF file saved as "${DestinationFile}" file.`);
                });
            });
        }
        else {
            // Service reported error
            console.log(data.message);
        }
    });
}).on("error", (e) => {
    // Request error
    console.log(e);
});

// Write request data
postRequest.write(jsonPayload);
postRequest.end();

Python

import os
import requests # pip install requests

# The authentication key (API Key).
# Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
API_KEY = "**********************************************"

# Base URL for PDF.co Web API requests
BASE_URL = "https://api.pdf.co/v1"

# URL of web page to convert to PDF document.
SourceUrl = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page"
# Destination PDF file name
DestinationFile = ".\\result.pdf"


def main(args = None):
    convertHTMLToPDF(SourceUrl, DestinationFile)


def convertHTMLToPDF(uploadedFileUrl, destinationFile):
    """Converts HTML to PDF using PDF.co Web API"""

    # Prepare requests params as JSON
    parameters = {}
    parameters["name"] = os.path.basename(destinationFile)
    parameters["url"] = uploadedFileUrl

    # Prepare URL for 'HTML To PDF' API request
    url = "{}/pdf/convert/from/url".format(BASE_URL)

    # Execute request and get response as JSON
    response = requests.post(url, data=parameters, headers={ "x-api-key": API_KEY })
    if (response.status_code == 200):
        json = response.json()

        if json["error"] == False:
            #  Get URL of result file
            resultFileUrl = json["url"]            
            # Download result file
            r = requests.get(resultFileUrl, stream=True)
            if (r.status_code == 200):
                with open(destinationFile, 'wb') as file:
                    for chunk in r:
                        file.write(chunk)
                print(f"Result file saved as \"{destinationFile}\" file.")
            else:
                print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")
        else:
            # Show service reported error
            print(json["message"])
    else:
        print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

namespace PDFcoApiExample
{
  class Program
  {
    // The authentication key (API Key).
    // Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
    const String API_KEY = "***********************************";
    
    // URL of web page to convert to PDF document.
    const string SourceUrl = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page";
    // Destination PDF file name
    const string DestinationFile = @".\result.pdf";

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      // Create standard .NET web client instance
      WebClient webClient = new WebClient();

      // Set API Key
      webClient.Headers.Add("x-api-key", API_KEY);

      // URL for `Web Page to PDF` API call
      string url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/from/url";

      // Prepare requests params as JSON
      Dictionary<string, object> requestBody = new Dictionary<string, object>();
      requestBody.Add("name", Path.GetFileName(DestinationFile));
      requestBody.Add("url", SourceUrl);

      // Convert dictionary of params to JSON
      string jsonPayload = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(requestBody);

      try
      {
        // Execute POST request
        var response = webClient.UploadString(url, "POST", jsonPayload);

        // Parse JSON response
        JObject json = JObject.Parse(response);

        if (json["error"].ToObject<bool>() == false)
        {
          // Get URL of generated PDF file
          string resultFileUrl = json["url"].ToString();

          // Download PDF file
          webClient.DownloadFile(resultFileUrl, DestinationFile);

          Console.WriteLine("Generated PDF document saved as \"{0}\" file.", DestinationFile);
        }
        else
        {
          Console.WriteLine(json["message"].ToString());
        }
      }
      catch (WebException e)
      {
        Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
      }

      webClient.Dispose();


      Console.WriteLine();
      Console.WriteLine("Press any key...");
      Console.ReadKey();
    }
  }
}

Java

package com.company;

import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
import okhttp3.*;

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

public class Main
{
    // The authentication key (API Key).
    // Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
    final static String API_KEY = "***********************************";

    // URL of web page to convert to PDF document.
    final static String SourceUrl = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page";
    // Destination PDF file name
    final static Path DestinationFile = Paths.get(".\\result.pdf");


    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
    {
        // Create HTTP client instance
        OkHttpClient webClient = new OkHttpClient();

        // Prepare URL for `Web Page to PDF` API call
        String query = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/from/url";

        // Make correctly escaped (encoded) URL
        URL url = null;
        try
        {
            url = new URI(null, query, null).toURL();
        }
        catch (URISyntaxException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        // Create JSON payload
    String jsonPayload = String.format("{\"name\": \"%s\", \"url\": \"%s\"}",
                DestinationFile.getFileName(),
                SourceUrl);

        // Prepare request body
        RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/json"), jsonPayload);
        
        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
            .url(url)
            .addHeader("x-api-key", API_KEY) // (!) Set API Key
            .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .post(body)
            .build();
        
        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        if (response.code() == 200)
        {
            // Parse JSON response
            JsonObject json = new JsonParser().parse(response.body().string()).getAsJsonObject();

            boolean error = json.get("error").getAsBoolean();
            if (!error)
            {
                // Get URL of generated PDF file
                String resultFileUrl = json.get("url").getAsString();

                // Download PDF file
                downloadFile(webClient, resultFileUrl, DestinationFile.toFile());

                System.out.printf("Generated PDF file saved as \"%s\" file.", DestinationFile.toString());
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                System.out.println(json.get("message").getAsString());
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            System.out.println(response.code() + " " + response.message());
        }
    }

    public static void downloadFile(OkHttpClient webClient, String url, File destinationFile) throws IOException
    {
        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(url)
                .build();
        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        byte[] fileBytes = response.body().bytes();

        // Save downloaded bytes to file
        OutputStream output = new FileOutputStream(destinationFile);
        output.write(fileBytes);
        output.flush();
        output.close();

        response.close();
    }
}

PHP

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>PDF Extractor Results</title>
</head>
<body>

<?php 

// Get submitted form data
$apiKey = $_POST["apiKey"]; // The authentication key (API Key). Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
$sourceUrl = $_POST["sourceUrl"];

// Prepare URL for `Web Page to PDF` API call
$url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/from/url";

// Prepare requests params
$parameters = array();
$parameters["name"] = "result.pdf";
$parameters["url"] = $sourceUrl;

// Create Json payload
$data = json_encode($parameters);

// Create request
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("x-api-key: " . $apiKey, "Content-type: application/json"));
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);

// Execute request
$result = curl_exec($curl);

if (curl_errno($curl) == 0)
{
    $status_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
    
    if ($status_code == 200)
    {
        $json = json_decode($result, true);
        
        if (!isset($json["error"]) || $json["error"] == false)
        {
            // Get URL of generated PDF file
            $resultFileUrl = $json["url"];
            
            // Display link to the file with conversion results
            echo "<div><h2>Conversion Result:</h2><a href='" . $resultFileUrl . "' target='_blank'>" . $resultFileUrl . "</a></div>";
        }
        else
        {
            // Display service reported error
            echo "<p>Error: " . $json["message"] . "</p>"; 
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // Display request error
        echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>"; 
        echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>"; 
    }
}
else
{
    // Display CURL error
    echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
}

// Cleanup
curl_close($curl);

?>

</body>
</html>