Home/ Questions/Q 8136605
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-06-06T10:48:52+00:00

How can I convert a PDF to a bitmap (as in an array of

  • 0

How can I convert a PDF to a bitmap (as in an array of pixels, not the .bmp file format) using C++ in a way that will work on both Mac and Windows? On Mac I may be able to use CoreGraphics to do it, but that doesn’t give me a windows solution. I have found numerous libraries that claim to do this that require .NET, but that is not an option either.

I need to:

  • Support multiple page PDFs and get a bitmap for each image that I can process
  • Do this on both Windows and Mac. I have a solution on Mac, so worst case a Windows-only solution would be acceptable.
  • Not be tied to a GPL license
  • Keep the size as small as possible; this is being used from a browser plugin, so calling external applications or having large dependencies would be significant disadvantages.

Any ideas?

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I don’t know about on Windows, but on Mac OS X the system has built-in support for rendering PDFs. You can simply create an NSImage that is backed by an NSPDFImageRep.

    • 0