Download from: https://www.xpdfreader.com/download.html (Look for “Xpdf tools for Windows” – 4.04)
| Feature | Xpdf 4.04 | Poppler (Windows) | Adobe Acrobat CLI | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | ~15 MB (Zipped) | ~80 MB | 1.2 GB+ | | Cost | Free (GPL) | Free (GPL) | $15/month | | Text Extraction Speed | Extremely Fast | Fast | Moderate | | Windows 7 Support | Yes | No (requires newer DLLs) | No | | Headless/Server Use | Yes | Yes | Limited (license restricts) |
: Often used as an "automator" where files are dragged onto shortcuts to instantly generate text without opening a heavy GUI application. Chocolatey Software | Community Licensing & Availability Xpdf tools are generally available as open source
Solution: The PDF likely contains CID (Character ID) fonts or non-standard encoding. Try the -raw switch to skip text normalization, or -enc UTF-8 to enforce correct output.
: Provides detailed metadata about a file, such as page count, encryption status, and creation dates.
When you download this package from the official XpdfReader website , you typically get the following standalone binaries: : Converts PDF files to plain text format. pdftops : Converts PDF files to PostScript (PS). pdftohtml : Generates HTML files from PDF documents.
Download from: https://www.xpdfreader.com/download.html (Look for “Xpdf tools for Windows” – 4.04)
| Feature | Xpdf 4.04 | Poppler (Windows) | Adobe Acrobat CLI | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | ~15 MB (Zipped) | ~80 MB | 1.2 GB+ | | Cost | Free (GPL) | Free (GPL) | $15/month | | Text Extraction Speed | Extremely Fast | Fast | Moderate | | Windows 7 Support | Yes | No (requires newer DLLs) | No | | Headless/Server Use | Yes | Yes | Limited (license restricts) | xpdf-tools-win-4.04
: Often used as an "automator" where files are dragged onto shortcuts to instantly generate text without opening a heavy GUI application. Chocolatey Software | Community Licensing & Availability Xpdf tools are generally available as open source Download from: https://www
Solution: The PDF likely contains CID (Character ID) fonts or non-standard encoding. Try the -raw switch to skip text normalization, or -enc UTF-8 to enforce correct output. : Provides detailed metadata about a file, such
: Provides detailed metadata about a file, such as page count, encryption status, and creation dates.
When you download this package from the official XpdfReader website , you typically get the following standalone binaries: : Converts PDF files to plain text format. pdftops : Converts PDF files to PostScript (PS). pdftohtml : Generates HTML files from PDF documents.