MuPDF.js

MuPDF.js is the official JavaScript and TypeScript library for reading, rendering, and manipulating PDF documents. It wraps the MuPDF C engine in WebAssembly, so the same high-fidelity rendering runs in Node.js, browsers, Bun, and Deno — with no native dependencies.

npm install mupdf

Note: mupdf is an ESM-only module. Use import, not require(). For TypeScript, set "module": "nodenext" in tsconfig.json. There is also an older community package called mupdf-js (with a hyphen) — that package is deprecated; use mupdf instead.

Why mupdf.js

High-fidelity rendering — built on the same MuPDF C engine used in many commercial PDF viewers; pixel-perfect output at any resolution
Runs everywhere — Node.js 14+, Bun, Deno, and all modern browsers via WebAssembly
Full editing — render, annotate, redact, merge, split, and save PDFs; not just a viewer
TypeScript-first — bundled .d.ts definitions, no @types package required; full IDE auto-completion
Zero native dependencies — the WebAssembly binary is self-contained; no platform-specific builds needed
Official & maintained — developed by Artifex Software, the creators of MuPDF and Ghostscript

Requirements

Requirement	Version
Node.js	14+ (18+ recommended)
Bun	Any current release
Deno	With npm compatibility enabled
Browsers	Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge (all modern versions supporting WebAssembly)
Module format	ESM only (`import`, not `require`)

Installation

# npm
npm install mupdf

# yarn
yarn add mupdf

# pnpm
pnpm add mupdf

The package includes both the JavaScript wrapper and the WebAssembly binary. No additional downloads or build steps are needed.

ESM module setup

If your project uses CommonJS by default, set the type to module:

npm pkg set type=module

TypeScript setup

Create a tsconfig.json with:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "nodenext"
  }
}

TypeScript definitions are included in the package at node_modules/mupdf/dist/mupdf.d.ts. VS Code will pick these up automatically for IntelliSense.

Quick start

Node.js — render all pages to PNG

import * as fs from "fs"
import * as mupdf from "mupdf"

const doc = mupdf.Document.openDocument(fs.readFileSync("input.pdf"), "application/pdf")
const n = doc.countPages()

for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
  const page = doc.loadPage(i)
  const pixmap = page.toPixmap(
    mupdf.Matrix.scale(96 / 72, 96 / 72),  // 96 DPI
    mupdf.ColorSpace.DeviceRGB
  )
  fs.writeFileSync(`page${i + 1}.png`, pixmap.asPNG())
  pixmap.destroy()
  page.destroy()
}

doc.destroy()

Browser — render the first page to canvas

<!DOCTYPE html>
<script type="module">
  import * as mupdf from "./node_modules/mupdf/dist/mupdf.js"

  const response = await fetch("./input.pdf")
  const buffer = await response.arrayBuffer()

  const doc = mupdf.Document.openDocument(buffer, "application/pdf")
  const page = doc.loadPage(0)
  const pixmap = page.toPixmap(
    mupdf.Matrix.scale(96 / 72, 96 / 72),
    mupdf.ColorSpace.DeviceRGB
  )

  const blob = new Blob([pixmap.asPNG()], { type: "image/png" })
  const img = document.createElement("img")
  img.src = URL.createObjectURL(blob)
  document.body.appendChild(img)
</script>

Serve with a local server (required for Web Workers and WASM loading):

npx http-server -o index.html

Key capabilities

Area	What you can do
Rendering	Render pages to PNG, JPEG, or raw pixel data at any DPI via `Pixmap`
Canvas output	Paint pages directly to an HTML5 Canvas element in the browser
Text extraction	Extract plain text or structured JSON with font, position, and bounding box data
Text search	Search across pages; results returned as `Quad` coordinates for highlighting
Annotations	Create and edit highlights, underlines, sticky notes, free text, shapes, and stamps
Redaction	Mark regions for redaction and permanently apply them
Page operations	Insert, delete, reorder, rotate, and crop pages
Document merging	Graft pages from one PDF into another
Metadata	Read and write document metadata (title, author, dates, etc.)
Outlines / TOC	Read and modify the document table of contents
Forms	Read and write PDF form field (widget) values
Password handling	Open password-protected PDFs; check and set permissions
Save options	Incremental updates, garbage collection, compression
TypeScript	Full type definitions bundled; works with `.mts` or ESM `.ts` files

Code examples

Extract text from a PDF

import * as fs from "fs"
import * as mupdf from "mupdf"

const doc = mupdf.Document.openDocument(fs.readFileSync("input.pdf"), "application/pdf")

for (let i = 0; i < doc.countPages(); i++) {
  const page = doc.loadPage(i)
  const text = page.toStructuredText("preserve-whitespace").asText()
  console.log(`--- Page ${i + 1} ---\n${text}`)
  page.destroy()
}

doc.destroy()

Extract structured text as JSON

import * as fs from "fs"
import * as mupdf from "mupdf"

const doc = mupdf.Document.openDocument(fs.readFileSync("input.pdf"), "application/pdf")

const page = doc.loadPage(0)
const json = JSON.parse(page.toStructuredText("preserve-spans").asJSON())

for (const block of json.blocks) {
  if (block.type === "text") {
    for (const line of block.lines) {
      console.log(`[${line.bbox.x}, ${line.bbox.y}] ${line.text}`)
    }
  }
}

Search for text and get match locations

import * as fs from "fs"
import * as mupdf from "mupdf"

const doc = mupdf.Document.openDocument(fs.readFileSync("input.pdf"), "application/pdf")

const page = doc.loadPage(0)
const hits = page.search("invoice number")  // returns array of Quad arrays
console.log(`Found ${hits.length} matches`)
page.destroy()

Add a highlight annotation

import * as fs from "fs"
import * as mupdf from "mupdf"

const doc = mupdf.Document.openDocument(fs.readFileSync("input.pdf"), "application/pdf")
const pdfDoc = doc.asPDF()
const page = pdfDoc.loadPage(0)

const stext = page.toStructuredText()
const quads = stext.search("important")

if (quads.length > 0) {
  const annot = page.createAnnotation("Highlight")
  annot.setQuadPoints(quads)
  annot.setColor([1, 1, 0])  // yellow
  annot.update()
}

fs.writeFileSync("highlighted.pdf", pdfDoc.saveToBuffer("incremental").asUint8Array())
stext.destroy()
page.destroy()
doc.destroy()

Apply redactions

import * as fs from "fs"
import * as mupdf from "mupdf"

const doc = mupdf.Document.openDocument(fs.readFileSync("input.pdf"), "application/pdf")
const pdfDoc = doc.asPDF()
const page = pdfDoc.loadPage(0)

const redact = page.createAnnotation("Redact")
redact.setRect([100, 200, 300, 220])
redact.update()

page.applyRedactions()  // permanently removes content

fs.writeFileSync("redacted.pdf", pdfDoc.saveToBuffer("").asUint8Array())
page.destroy()
doc.destroy()

Merge two PDFs

import * as fs from "fs"
import * as mupdf from "mupdf"

const docA = mupdf.Document.openDocument(fs.readFileSync("first.pdf"), "application/pdf")
const docB = mupdf.Document.openDocument(fs.readFileSync("second.pdf"), "application/pdf")
const pdfA = docA.asPDF()

// Graft all pages from docB to the end of docA
for (let i = 0; i < docB.countPages(); i++) {
  pdfA.graftPage(-1, docB.asPDF(), i)
}

fs.writeFileSync("merged.pdf", pdfA.saveToBuffer("garbage").asUint8Array())
docA.destroy()
docB.destroy()

Load a remote PDF

import * as mupdf from "mupdf"

async function loadRemote(url) {
  const response = await fetch(url)
  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(response.statusText)
  const buffer = await response.arrayBuffer()
  return mupdf.Document.openDocument(buffer, url)
}

const doc = await loadRemote("https://example.com/report.pdf")
console.log(`Pages: ${doc.countPages()}`)
doc.destroy()

TypeScript example

import * as mupdf from "mupdf"
import * as fs from "fs"

const buffer: Buffer = fs.readFileSync("input.pdf")
const doc: mupdf.Document = mupdf.Document.openDocument(buffer, "application/pdf")
const page: mupdf.PDFPage = doc.loadPage(0) as mupdf.PDFPage
const pixmap: mupdf.Pixmap = page.toPixmap(
  mupdf.Matrix.identity,
  mupdf.ColorSpace.DeviceRGB,
  false,
  true
)

fs.writeFileSync("output.png", pixmap.asPNG())
pixmap.destroy()
page.destroy()
doc.destroy()

Memory management

MuPDF.js uses WebAssembly memory that is not garbage-collected automatically. Call .destroy() on every object when you are done with it:

import * as mupdf from "mupdf"
import * as fs from "fs"

const buffer = fs.readFileSync("input.pdf")
const doc = mupdf.Document.openDocument(buffer, "application/pdf")
try {
  const page = doc.loadPage(0)
  try {
    const pixmap = page.toPixmap(mupdf.Matrix.identity, mupdf.ColorSpace.DeviceRGB, false, true)
    try {
      fs.writeFileSync("output.png", pixmap.asPNG())
    } finally {
      pixmap.destroy()
    }
  } finally {
    page.destroy()
  }
} finally {
  doc.destroy()
}

API overview

The main entry points are Document (or PDFDocument for PDF-specific operations) and Page / PDFPage.

Core classes

Class	Purpose
`Document`	Open any supported format; count pages; extract metadata and outline
`PDFDocument`	PDF-specific operations: save, encrypt, merge, graft, journal, layers
`Page`	Render, extract text, search, and get links from a page
`PDFPage`	PDF-specific page operations: annotations, widgets, redactions
`Pixmap`	Raster image; save to PNG, JPEG, PAM or draw to Canvas
`StructuredText`	Analysed text with blocks, lines, spans, and bounding boxes
`PDFAnnotation`	Create and modify PDF annotations
`Matrix`	Affine transform for scaling, rotation, and translation
`ColorSpace`	Colour spaces: `DeviceRGB`, `DeviceGray`, `DeviceCMYK`
`Buffer`	Raw byte buffer for reading/writing file data

Key `Document` methods

Method	Description
`Document.openDocument(buffer, magic)`	Open a document from a `Buffer`, `ArrayBuffer`, or file path
`doc.countPages()`	Total number of pages
`doc.loadPage(n)`	Load page at zero-based index `n`; returns `Page` or `PDFPage`
`doc.getMetaData(key)`	Read metadata: `"info:Title"`, `"info:Author"`, `"format"`, etc.
`doc.setMetaData(key, value)`	Write metadata fields
`doc.loadOutline()`	Return the table of contents as a nested array
`doc.isPDF()`	Returns `true` if the document is a PDF
`doc.asPDF()`	Cast to `PDFDocument` for PDF-specific operations
`doc.needsPassword()`	Returns `true` if the document is password-protected
`doc.authenticatePassword(pw)`	Unlock a password-protected document
`doc.destroy()`	Release WebAssembly memory

Key `Page` / `PDFPage` methods

Method	Description
`page.getBounds()`	Returns `[x0, y0, x1, y1]` bounding rectangle
`page.toPixmap(matrix, colorspace, alpha, showExtras)`	Render to a `Pixmap`
`page.toStructuredText(options)`	Extract text as a `StructuredText` object
`page.search(needle)`	Search for text; returns array of `Quad` arrays
`page.getLinks()`	Returns all links on the page
`page.getAnnotations()`	Returns all annotations on the page
`page.createAnnotation(type)`	Create a new annotation (`"Highlight"`, `"Text"`, `"Redact"`, etc.)
`page.applyRedactions()`	Permanently apply all redaction annotations
`page.setPageBox(box, rect)`	Set a page box (`"CropBox"`, `"MediaBox"`, etc.)
`page.destroy()`	Release WebAssembly memory

Key `PDFDocument` methods

Method	Description
`pdfDoc.saveToBuffer(options)`	Serialise to a `Buffer` for saving; options: `"incremental"`, `"garbage"`, `"compress"`
`pdfDoc.graftPage(to, srcDoc, srcPage)`	Copy a page from another PDF document
`pdfDoc.deletePage(index)`	Delete a page by zero-based index
`pdfDoc.rearrangePages(pages)`	Reorder or remove pages by index array
`pdfDoc.countVersions()`	Count incremental saves in the file history
`pdfDoc.enableJournal()`	Enable undo/redo journalling

Key `Pixmap` methods

Method	Description
`pixmap.asPNG()`	Returns the image as a PNG `Buffer`
`pixmap.asJPEG(quality)`	Returns the image as a JPEG `Buffer`
`pixmap.getWidth()` / `getHeight()`	Pixel dimensions
`pixmap.getPixels()`	Raw RGBA pixel data as `Uint8Array` (use with Canvas `ImageData`)
`pixmap.setResolution(x, y)`	Set DPI metadata
`pixmap.destroy()`	Release WebAssembly memory

Key `StructuredText` methods

Method	Description
`stext.asText()`	Plain text string
`stext.asJSON(scale)`	JSON with blocks, lines, fonts, and bounding boxes
`stext.asHTML(id)`	HTML rendering of the text
`stext.search(needle)`	Search within extracted text; returns `Quad` arrays
`stext.walk(walker)`	Iterate blocks, lines, and characters with callbacks
`stext.destroy()`	Release WebAssembly memory

Supported formats

Input: PDF, XPS, EPUB, MOBI, FB2, CBZ, SVG, TXT, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, and other common image formats

Output: PDF (via saveToBuffer), PNG, JPEG, PAM (via Pixmap)

Examples & demos

The examples/ directory contains ready-to-run projects:

Example	Description
`examples/simple-viewer/`	PDF viewer running MuPDF in the browser
`examples/node-server/`	Node.js REST API for PDF processing
`examples/nextjs/`	Next.js client/server PDF app
`examples/convert/`	Command-line batch conversion to PNG
`examples/text-extract/`	Command-line text extraction script

See mupdfjs.readthedocs.io for guides on building web apps, server-side rendering, and desktop apps.

Documentation

Resource	URL
Getting started & how-to guides	https://mupdfjs.readthedocs.io
API reference (full JS/TS)	https://mupdf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/javascript/
MuPDF core documentation	https://mupdf.readthedocs.io
NPM package	https://www.npmjs.com/package/mupdf
Forum	https://forum.mupdf.com
GitHub issues	https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/mupdf.js/issues

License

mupdf.js is available under two licences:

GNU AGPL v3 — free for open-source projects. If you distribute software that uses mupdf.js, or provide it as a network service, you must release your source code under the AGPL.
Commercial licence — required for proprietary applications and SaaS products where AGPL compliance is not possible. Contact Artifex for pricing.

The licence applies to both the JavaScript wrapper and the underlying MuPDF WebAssembly binary.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 241 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
docs		docs
examples		examples
signatures/version1		signatures/version1
.gitignore		.gitignore
.readthedocs.yaml		.readthedocs.yaml
INSTALL.md		INSTALL.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md

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Repository files navigation

MuPDF.js

Contents

Why mupdf.js

Requirements

Installation

Quick start

Key capabilities

Code examples

Extract text from a PDF

Extract structured text as JSON

Search for text and get match locations

Add a highlight annotation

Apply redactions

Merge two PDFs

Load a remote PDF

TypeScript example

Memory management

API overview

Core classes

Key `Document` methods

Key `Page` / `PDFPage` methods

Key `PDFDocument` methods

Key `Pixmap` methods

Key `StructuredText` methods

Supported formats

Examples & demos

Documentation

License

About

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Releases 2

Packages

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Contributors

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Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

MuPDF.js

Contents

Why mupdf.js

Requirements

Installation

Quick start

Key capabilities

Code examples

Extract text from a PDF

Extract structured text as JSON

Search for text and get match locations

Add a highlight annotation

Apply redactions

Merge two PDFs

Load a remote PDF

TypeScript example

Memory management

API overview

Core classes

Key Document methods

Key Page / PDFPage methods

Key PDFDocument methods

Key Pixmap methods

Key StructuredText methods

Supported formats

Examples & demos

Documentation

License

About

Topics

Resources

License

Uh oh!

Stars

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Forks

Releases 2

Packages 0

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Contributors

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Key `Document` methods

Key `Page` / `PDFPage` methods

Key `PDFDocument` methods

Key `Pixmap` methods

Key `StructuredText` methods

Packages