Apache PDFBox: Complete PDF Toolkit for Java

Extract text, manipulate documents, fill forms and more - all in pure Java

What is Apache PDFBox?

Apache PDFBox is a powerful open-source Java library designed for seamless PDF processing in Java, enabling developers to create, edit, and extract content from PDF documents programmatically. As one of the most popular Java PDF libraries, PDFBox excels in tasks like extracting text from PDFs, merging multiple PDF files, and adding digital signatures, all with a lightweight API and zero licensing costs. Whether you need PDF parsing in Java, PDF generation, or PDF/A compliance, this library supports advanced features like OCR integration, form filling, and HTML-to-PDF conversion. With Maven-ready dependencies (e.g., pdfbox-maven) and extensive documentation, PDFBox simplifies complex workflows—making it ideal for enterprise applications, document automation, and data extraction. Compared to alternatives like iText, Apache PDFBox stands out for its open-source flexibility, active community, and cross-platform compatibility. Dive into our PDFBox tutorial to explore Java code examples and unlock the full potential of PDF manipulation in Java.

Key advantages of PDFBox include:

Complete solution: Both extraction and creation capabilities
Pure Java: No native dependencies
Active development: Backed by the Apache Software Foundation
Comprehensive features: Text extraction, splitting, merging, signing
Form support: Read and fill PDF forms

Ideal for document management systems, content extraction, and PDF automation.

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Why Choose PDFBox?

Maturity: Stable since 2002 with regular updates
Versatility: Both read and write capabilities
Standards support: Handles PDF 1.7 and PDF/A documents
Community: Large user base and extensive documentation
Integration: Works with all Java-based frameworks

Installation

PDFBox is available via Maven Central for easy integration:

Maven



    org.apache.pdfbox
    pdfbox
    3.0.0

Gradle


implementation 'org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox:3.0.0'

System Requirements: Java 8 or later

Code Examples

Practical examples of PDFBox's capabilities:

Apache PDFBox

Example 1: Basic Text Extraction from PDF Document in Java

This example shows how to extract text from a PDF document while preserving formatting and structure. PDFBox provides advanced text stripping capabilities that maintain reading order and handle complex layouts.

Output includes:

Structured text content
Page-by-page extraction
Basic formatting preservation

Example 2: PDF Document Creation from Scratch in Java

PDFBox excels at both reading and creating PDFs. This example demonstrates generating a new PDF document with text and basic formatting.

Example 3: Adding Headers and Footers to PDF Pages in Java

PDFBox provides comprehensive support for adding headrs and footers to PDF pages from within your Java appliction. The following code sample shows how to achieve this using PDFBox API for Java.

Advanced Features

PDFBox supports professional PDF processing:

Image extraction: Access embedded images:

Image Extraction


    PDDocument document = PDDocument.load(new File("document.pdf"));
    for (PDPage page : document.getPages()) {
        PDResources resources = page.getResources();
        for (COSName name : resources.getXObjectNames()) {
            PDXObject xobject = resources.getXObject(name);
            if (xobject instanceof PDImageXObject) {
                BufferedImage image = ((PDImageXObject) xobject).getImage();
                // Process image
            }
        }
    }

Document splitting: Divide PDFs into multiple files:

Splitting PDF


    Splitter splitter = new Splitter();
    List pages = splitter.split(document);
    for (int i = 0; i < pages.size(); i++) {
        pages.get(i).save("page-" + (i+1) + ".pdf");
    }

Encrypted PDFs: Handle password-protected files:

Encrypted PDF


    String password = "secure123";
    FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("encrypted.pdf");
    PDDocument doc = PDDocument.load(fis, password);

PDFBox vs iText

Here are the 5 key differences between PDFBox and iText:

License: PDFBox is Apache-licensed (open source), while iText has a commercial license for most use cases
Feature Focus: PDFBox provides balanced read/write capabilities, while iText specializes in PDF generation
Performance: iText is generally faster for document creation, while PDFBox excels at text extraction
Community: PDFBox has broader open source adoption, while iText offers professional support
Use Cases: PDFBox is ideal for analysis and basic manipulation, while iText is better for high-volume PDF generation

Conclusion

Apache PDFBox delivers comprehensive PDF processing for Java developers. Ideal for:

Content extraction: Mining text and data from PDFs
Document automation: Generating reports and forms
Document management: Splitting, merging, and transforming PDFs
Form processing: Reading and filling interactive forms

With its open source license and comprehensive feature set, PDFBox is the premier choice for Java-based PDF processing.