---
name: "pdftopbm"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "xpdf-reader"
version: "1.00-3.4"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pdftopbm"
---

# pdftopbm(1)

Portable Document Format (PDF) to Portable Bitmap (PBM) converter (version 1.00)

## NAME

pdftopbm - Portable Document Format (PDF) to Portable Bitmap (PBM) converter (version 1.00)

## SYNOPSIS

**pdftopbm** \[options\] *PDF-file PBM-root*

## DESCRIPTION

**Pdftopbm** converts Portable Document Format (PDF) files to black-and-white image files in Portable Bitmap (PBM) format.

Pdftopbm reads the PDF file, *PDF-file*, and writes one PBM file for each page, *PBM-root*-*nnnnnn*.pbm, where *nnnnnn* is the page number.

## CONFIGURATION FILE

Pdftopbm reads a configuration file at startup.  It first tries to find the user's private config file, ~/.xpdfrc.  If that doesn't exist, it looks for a system-wide config file, typically /usr/local/etc/xpdfrc (but this location can be changed when pdftopbm is built).  See the [**xpdfrc**(5)](/xpdfrc/5.md) man page for details.

## OPTIONS

Many of the following options can be set with configuration file commands.  These are listed in square brackets with the description of the corresponding command line option.

- **-f** *number*

  Specifies the first page to convert.

- **-l** *number*

  Specifies the last page to convert.

- **-r** *number*

  Specifies the resolution, in DPI.  The default is 150 DPI.

- **-opw** *password*

  Specify the owner password for the PDF file.  Providing this will bypass all security restrictions.

- **-upw** *password*

  Specify the user password for the PDF file.

- **-q**

  Don't print any messages or errors. \[config file: **errQuiet**\]

- **-v**

  Print copyright and version information.

- **-h**

  Print usage information. (**-help** and **--help** are equivalent.)

## BUGS

Pdftopbm uses X to do the rendering, so it is limited by the capabilities and performance of the X server.  In particular, high-resolution output requires lots of memory.  Also, non-scalable fonts will not look great.

## AUTHOR

The pdftopbm software and documentation are copyright 1996-2002 Derek B. Noonburg (derekn@foolabs.com).

## SEE ALSO

[**xpdf**(1)](/xpdf/1.md), [**pdftops**(1)](/pdftops/1.md), [**pdftotext**(1)](/pdftotext/1.md), [**pdfinfo**(1)](/pdfinfo/1.md), [**pdffonts**(1)](/pdffonts/1.md), [**pdfimages**(1)](/pdfimages/1.md), [**xpdfrc**(5)](/xpdfrc/5.md)\
 **http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/**