5b94ed5487
Prior to PR 11601, the `disableCreateObjectURL` option was present on `getDocument` in the API, since it was (potentially) used when decoding JPEG images natively in the browser. Hence setting this option, which was done automatically using compatibility-code, were in some browsers necessary in order for e.g. JPEG images to be correctly rendered. The downside of the `disableCreateObjectURL` option is that memory usage increases significantly, since we're forced to build and use `data:` URIs (rather than `blob:` URLs). However, at this point in time the `disableCreateObjectURL` option is only necessary for *some* (non-essential) functionality in the default viewer; in particular: - The openfile functionality, used only when manually opening a new file in the default viewer. - The download functionality, used when downloading either the PDF document itself or its attached files (if such exists). - The print functionality, in the generic `PDFPrintService` implementation. Hence neither the general PDF.js library, nor the *basic* functionality of the default viewer, depends on the `disableCreateObjectURL` option any more; which is why I'm thus proposing that we remove the option since using it is a performance footgun. *Please note:* To not outright break currently "supported" browsers, which lack proper `URL.createObjectURL` support, this patch purposely keeps the compatibility-code to explicitly disable `URL.createObjectURL` usage *only* for browsers which are known to not work correctly.[1] While it's certainly possible that there's additional, likely older, browsers with broken `URL.createObjectURL` support, the last time that these types of problems were reported was over *three* years ago.[2] Hence in the *very* unlikely event that additional problems occur, as a result of these changes, we can either add a new case in the compatibility-code or simply declare the affected browser as unsupported. --- [1] Which are IE11 (see issue 3977), and Google Chrome on iOS (see PR 8081). [2] Given that `URL.createObjectURL` is used by default, you'd really expect more reports if these problems were widespread.
PDF.js 
PDF.js is a Portable Document Format (PDF) viewer that is built with HTML5.
PDF.js is community-driven and supported by Mozilla. Our goal is to create a general-purpose, web standards-based platform for parsing and rendering PDFs.
Contributing
PDF.js is an open source project and always looking for more contributors. To get involved, visit:
- Issue Reporting Guide
- Code Contribution Guide
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Good Beginner Bugs
- Projects
Feel free to stop by our Matrix room for questions or guidance.
Getting Started
Online demo
Please note that the "Modern browsers" version assumes native support for
features such as e.g. async/await, Promise, and ReadableStream.
-
Modern browsers: https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/web/viewer.html
-
Older browsers: https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/es5/web/viewer.html
Browser Extensions
Firefox
PDF.js is built into version 19+ of Firefox.
Chrome
- The official extension for Chrome can be installed from the Chrome Web Store. This extension is maintained by @Rob--W.
- Build Your Own - Get the code as explained below and issue
gulp chromium. Then open Chrome, go toTools > Extensionand load the (unpackaged) extension from the directorybuild/chromium.
Getting the Code
To get a local copy of the current code, clone it using git:
$ git clone https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js.git
$ cd pdf.js
Next, install Node.js via the official package or via nvm. You need to install the gulp package globally (see also gulp's getting started):
$ npm install -g gulp-cli
If everything worked out, install all dependencies for PDF.js:
$ npm install
Finally, you need to start a local web server as some browsers do not allow opening
PDF files using a file:// URL. Run:
$ gulp server
and then you can open:
Please keep in mind that this requires an ES6 compatible browser; refer to Building PDF.js for usage with older browsers.
It is also possible to view all test PDF files on the right side by opening:
Building PDF.js
In order to bundle all src/ files into two production scripts and build the generic
viewer, run:
$ gulp generic
This will generate pdf.js and pdf.worker.js in the build/generic/build/ directory.
Both scripts are needed but only pdf.js needs to be included since pdf.worker.js will
be loaded by pdf.js. The PDF.js files are large and should be minified for production.
Using PDF.js in a web application
To use PDF.js in a web application you can choose to use a pre-built version of the library
or to build it from source. We supply pre-built versions for usage with NPM and Bower under
the pdfjs-dist name. For more information and examples please refer to the
wiki page on this subject.
Including via a CDN
PDF.js is hosted on several free CDNs:
- https://www.jsdelivr.com/package/npm/pdfjs-dist
- https://cdnjs.com/libraries/pdf.js
- https://unpkg.com/pdfjs-dist/
Learning
You can play with the PDF.js API directly from your browser using the live demos below:
More examples can be found in the examples folder. Some of them are using the pdfjs-dist package, which can be built and installed in this repo directory via gulp dist-install command.
For an introduction to the PDF.js code, check out the presentation by our contributor Julian Viereck:
More learning resources can be found at:
The API documentation can be found at:
Questions
Check out our FAQs and get answers to common questions:
Talk to us on Matrix:
File an issue:
Follow us on twitter: @pdfjs