Java libraries to read and write PDF files

This page lists links to and short summaries of Java software which accesses PDF files. PDF, the Portable Document Format was designed by Adobe. A PDF file format specification is freely available from Adobe's website.

PDF has been changed over time, it's an extensible format and new features have been added. Among those feature are new compression filters, and implementations of some of those fall under patents in some countries. Free, open encoders and decoders which cover all valid PDFs are therefore not possible. For some compression types (like JBIG-2) I'm not even aware of a proprietary Java implementation. If you want to use a Java PDF decoder, try out a wide variety of PDF files to see if it suits your needs. Should you be in the position of controlling the complete workflow including PDF file generation this will probably not be an issue. Using a well-defined subset of PDF (like PDF/A) may be an option to avoid compatibility problems.

Library / package	License	Description
Adobe Acrobat Reader for Java	Freeware	Read and display PDF documents. A viewer application and a JavaBean are available. Works with Java 1.1.8+.
Big Faceless PDF library	Commercial	Write PDF documents, with support for various advanced features.
ceTe Software	Commercial	DynamicPDF Generator to write, DynamicPDF Merger to read and write PDF files.
Crionics jPDF	Commercial	Manipulation of PDF files, especially suited for the server side. Features include PDF generation from templates, splitting, merging, parsing and encryption. Written in pure Java (requires Java 1.3 or higher).
ElegantJ PDF library	Commercial	Java library to create reports from arbitrary data sources as PDF.
Etymon PJ	GPL / Commercial	Read and write PDF documents. There are two versions, classic and professional. Classic comes under the GPL and requires Java 1.1. Professional is commercial and requires Java 1.4.
FOP	Apache License	Write PDF documents, render them from XML/XSL sources.
gnujpdf	LGPL	Write PDF documents. An extension of the retepPDF project.
iText	LGPL	Write PDF documents. Requires Java 1.2. There's a book iText in Action by the library's author, Bruno Lowagie.
PDFGo	Commercial	Read PDF documents. Viewer (standalone application) and Java Bean available.
jPDFPrint	Commercial (trial version available)	Library to read and print PDF documents.
jPDFProcess	Commercial (trial version available)	Library to read, manipulate and save PDF documents. Manipulation operations include splitting, drawing, printing, encrypting and exporting as images.
jPDFViewer	Commercial (trial version available)	Java Bean to display PDF documents.
jPDFWriter	Commercial (trial version available)	Pure Java library to write PDF files. Library can be used like a Java printer job. Thus, existing Java code for printing can be reused to create PDF files.
JPedal	GPL or site license or fixed fee	Read PDF documents. This library can both extract content from PDFs and rasterize them.
JustFormsPDF	Commercial (trial version available)	Pure Java library for filling and editing PDF documents with forms. Requires Java 1.2+.
Multivalent	Special license	Reads PDF and other document formats. Includes a browser to view all supported files. Provides various tools to manipulate PDF files: compress, uncompress, split, merge, encrypt, decrypt, info, validate, extract text, and full-text search (with Lucene). Source code available.
PDF stream writer	Freeware	Java library to convert XML to PDF files.
PDFBox	BSD	Library to access PDF files. A utility to convert to text is included.
PDFlib	Commercial	Read and write PDF documents. This is a C library which has Java JNI bindings.
PDFTextStream	Commercial	Read PDF documents. This library can extract text and metadata from PDF files. It supports PDF up to version 1.6 and comes with support for Lucene.
retepPDF	GPL	Write PDF documents.
Saffron Document Server	Commercial	Reads PostScript (.ps) documents and generates PDF, HTML, RTF, TIFF, and other formats. Configured as a server for concurrent document rendering.
SmartJPrint	GPL-like	Pure Java library to write PDF files. Generates PDF files from Swing GUI components, provides preview functionality.
Snowbound	Commercial	Read and write PDF files.
XMLMill	Commercial, trial version available	Create PDF documents from XML/XSL.

The Open Directory Project has its own category for Java libraries to read and write PDF files.

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License column

This column either contains the name of the license used, or the term commercial. In this list, commercial means the same as non-free, contrary to what the Free Software Movement suggests.