PDF to JPG CLI

A Node.js command-line tool that converts all PDF files in the current directory to high-quality JPG images with customizable maximum width. Perfect for batch converting PDFs to images for thumbnails, previews, or web use.

Installation

Install globally from npm to use the pdftojpg command anywhere:

npm install -g pdf-to-jpg-cli

Usage

After global installation, navigate to any directory containing PDF files and run:

pdftojpg [options]

Options

• -w, --width <number> - Maximum width in pixels (default: 1275)
• -h, --help - Show help message

Examples

# Convert all PDFs with default settings (max width: 1275px)
pdftojpg

# Convert with custom max width (800px)
pdftojpg -w 800

# Convert with custom max width (2000px)  
pdftojpg --width 2000

# Show help
pdftojpg --help

Development

If you want to contribute or modify this tool:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/kennedyrose/pdf-to-jpg-cli.git
cd pdf-to-jpg-cli

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run locally
node index.js -w 1500

# Or install globally from source
npm install -g .

Features

• Converts all PDF files in the current directory to JPG format
• High-quality output at 200 DPI
• Maintains original aspect ratio
• Customizable maximum width with automatic height scaling
• Shows conversion progress and final dimensions
• Automatic PDF dimension detection

Requirements

• Node.js
• System dependencies for PDF processing:
  • Poppler - Provides pdfinfo command to read PDF dimensions and metadata
  • GraphicsMagick - Image processing library for high-quality PDF to image conversion
  • Ghostscript - PostScript and PDF interpreter required by GraphicsMagick for PDF rendering

Installing System Dependencies

macOS:

brew install poppler graphicsmagick ghostscript

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install poppler-utils graphicsmagick ghostscript

Windows:

• Install poppler: Download from http://blog.alivate.com.au/poppler-windows/
• Install GraphicsMagick: http://www.graphicsmagick.org/download.html
• Install Ghostscript: https://www.ghostscript.com/download/gsdnld.html

How It Works

1. Scans current directory for PDF files
2. Uses pdfinfo to detect original PDF dimensions
3. Calculates scaling to fit within specified maximum width
4. Converts PDF to JPG using GraphicsMagick with Ghostscript backend
5. Outputs high-resolution JPG files with preserved aspect ratios