pdf2mp4

Module that converts pdf files to MP4 in high resolution. Can be used for fast reading applications.

Required system dependencies:

• ImageMagick
• gm
• ffmpeg

multithreaded!

Installation

npm install pdf2mp4

Prerequisites

• git
• npm & node
• ImageMagick & gm
• ffmpeg

Setup

git clone https://github.com/irgipaulius/pdf2mp4

cd pdf2mp4

npm install

GraphicsMagick

Next, you must install ImageMagick and gm on your system:

• Official instructions: https://github.com/yakovmeister/pdf2image/blob/HEAD/docs/gm-installation.md

• OSX:

  • brew install graphicsmagick
  • brew install gs
  • brew install imagemagick

• Windows, Linux - install manually:

  • ImageMagick
  • gm

• Standalone - install from source:

  • https://www.imagemagick.org/script/install-source.php
  • https://www.github.com/aheckmann/gm.git

FFMPEG

• OSX
  • brew install ffmpeg
• Windows
  • Download installation executables from https://evermeet.cx/ffmpeg/.
  • add .env with FFMPEG_PATH=path/to/ffmpeg/executable
• Linux
  • sudo apt install ffmpeg
• FreeBSD
  • pkg install ffmpeg

Usage

import { pdf2mp4, createEventLogger } from "pdf2mp4";

const e = createEventLogger(); // optional, but great for debugging

await pdf2mp4(
  {
    fileName: "sample.pdf",
    secondsPerFrame: 2.15,
    uploadDir: "./",
    outputDir: "./",
  },
  e
);

Properties

| Property | type | default value | description | | --------------- | ---------------- | ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | fileName | mandatory string | | name of the pdf file. | | secondsPerFrame | optional number | | either this or framesPerSecond must be set. | | framesPerSecond | optional number | | either this or secondsPerFrame must be set. | | maxConcurrency | optional number | 8 | max concurrent frames to process at the same time. Directly affects performance and stability. | | uploadDir | optional string | "pdf2mp4/upload" | path to directory where pdf files are located | | tempDir | optional string | "pdf2mp4/generated/temp" | path to directory where temporary files will be generated | | outputDir | optional string | "pdf2mp4/generated/video" | path to directory where generated mp4 file is placed |

Events (optional)

For example, on front-end you can implement a full-fledged processing loading animation, which is accurate to the actual process:

const e = new EventEmitter();

e.on("start", (message, filename) => {
  console.log(message); // Converting sample.pdf...
});

e.on("benchmark_raster", (message, benchmarkSeconds) => {
  console.log(message); // `Finished rasterization in 6.9420 seconds.`
});

e.on("benchmark_render", (message, benchmarkSeconds) => {
  console.log(message); // `Finished render in 6.9420 seconds.`
});

e.on("progress_raster", (message, progress) => {
  console.log(message); // Rasterizing... 69/100
  setProgress(progress / 100); // great to use with states for react
});

e.on("progress_render", (message, progress) => {
  console.log(message); // Rendering... 69/100
  setProgress(progress / 100); // great to use with states for react
});

e.on("end", (message, videoFilename, videoDestination) => {
  console.log(message); // Finished converting sample.pdf to /usr/Johnny/.../pdf2mp4/Am83rH3ar0.mp4.
  resolve(videoDestination); // final location of the mp4 file.
});

// no need to await, result will be in the 'end' event
pdf2mp4("sample.pdf", { framesPerSecond: 0.33 }, e);

Notes

This is my first ever published npm package. Submit issues to the github repository for any extra features or questions.

There is also a fully developed website that uses this package at https://www.hyperreader.eu, and it's source code is here.