DEV Community: IDRSolutions

How to print PDF files from Java (Tutorial)

IDRSolutions — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:45:05 +0000

Printing PDF files from Java is something that raises a lot of general questions, so this short article is a general guide to the options available. Java itself contains a built-in print system (JPS). This does not internally support the PDF file format. We will print PDF using Java with JPedal (JPedal is our PDF library for Java) to Convert, Print, View PDF files).

What is JPS

Java Print System is built into all versions of Java. It renders a page for printing and can plug into the existing Windows or Unix/Linux/Mac printing system. This provides a generic solution but the files tend to be larger and it relies on the capabilities of the Java PDF library which vary. It does not support all formats but does include callbacks to allow these to be implemented.

We have added PDF support for JPS to our JPedal Java PDF library. There is a detailed 5-step tutorial showing how you can print (which will be relevant to any library using JPS).

How to Print PDF in Java

Our JPedal Java PDF library implements JPS so here is the minimal code you would use to print a PDF file.

1. Create a DocPrintJob
Wrap your Pageable or Printable object inside a doc, specifying which interface to use in the call
Add a listener to track what happens.
Call the print method

and the Java code to print PDF…

PrintService[] service = PrinterJob.lookupPrintServices(); //list of printers
printJob = service[i].createPrintJob(); //is whichever printer you use
Doc doc = new SimpleDoc(decode_pdf, DocFlavor.SERVICE_FORMATTED.PAGEABLE, null);
printJob.addPrintJobListener(new PDFPrintJobListener());
private class PDFPrintJobListener implements PrintJobListener {
    public void printDataTransferCompleted(PrintJobEvent printJobEvent) {
        System.out.println("printDataTransferCompleted = " + printJobEvent.toString());
    }
    public void printJobCompleted(PrintJobEvent printJobEvent) {
        System.out.println("printJobCompleted = " + printJobEvent.toString());
    }
    public void printJobFailed(PrintJobEvent printJobEvent) {
        System.out.println("printJobEvent = " + printJobEvent.toString());
    }
    public void printJobCanceled(PrintJobEvent printJobEvent) {
        System.out.println("printJobFailed = " + printJobEvent.toString());
    }
    public void printJobNoMoreEvents(PrintJobEvent printJobEvent) {
        System.out.println("printJobNoMoreEvents = " + printJobEvent.toString());
    }
    public void printJobRequiresAttention(PrintJobEvent printJobEvent) {
        System.out.println("printJobRequiresAttention = " + printJobEvent.toString());
    }
}
printJob.print(doc, null);

4 tools for viewing Image Metadata

IDRSolutions — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 14:40:01 +0000

In this article, we will show you some free and commercial multi-platform tools which can be used for viewing Image Metadata on various platforms.

Browser plugins for Firefox and Chrome

There is a free plugin for Firefox and several plugins for Chrome that work on JPEG files.

PhotoshopDC

Photoshop is a high-end commercial image editor from Adobe. It allows comprehensive access to metadata on all image file format. This is hidden under File – File Info

JAlbum

JAblum is a commercial application which can also edit and help to organise images. It will let you not only view but edit several of the metadata fields including a location. It is cross-platform and there is also a cloud version. FInd out more here.

Gimp

Gimp is an Open Source multi-platform Image editor which can view and edit image metadata in mutliple formats including Exif and XMP. This is under Image – Image Data menu option.

On our blog we look at some libraries which can programmatically access this data, including our own JDeli library. JDeli is the best pure Java image library for performance and efficiency and working with metadata.

What are your favourite tools to view and edit image metadata?

As experienced Java developers, we help you work with images in Java and bring over a decade of hands-on experience with many image file formats.

How to add an image annotation to a PDF in Java

IDRSolutions — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:44:03 +0000

If you’ve been struggling to find a solution for inserting image annotations into a PDF, look no further. With JPedal you now have the ability to insert image annotations into PDF files using a few lines of Java.

All you need is a copy of JPedal, a BufferedImage, and a few lines of Java.

final WritableAnnotation[] annotations = new WritableAnnotation[1];
annotations[0] = new ImageAnnotation(page, x0, y0, x1, y1, bufferedImage);
AnnotationWriter.writeAnnotations(new File("input.pdf"), new File("output.pdf"), annotations);

The bottom left corner of the image will be at (x0, y0) and the top right corner will be at (x1, y1). The image is scaled to fit within these bounds.

What is EXIF metadata?

IDRSolutions — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 13:30:05 +0000

TLDR

Quick summary is that HEIC, JPEG, PNG, TIFF can contain easily read predefined data about images. This can be very useful to tell you about images, but you should also be aware it is there.

What is Exif?

EXIF is a common International standard format for storing metadata as part of an image. This has the advantage of simplicity and convenience. It stands for Exchangeable image file format and is found in Avif, Heic, Jpeg, Jpeg XL, PNG, Tiff, and WebP image file formats and wav sound files. It was first proposed in 1995 and is currently at version 2.32

It was originally developed for the Tiff file format and consists of a set of predefined Exif tags (such as Image width, height, copyright, location, etc) which take a predefined value (Copyright is a String). There is a nice list of EXIF tags here

How can I view EXIF?

A big advantage of EXIF data is that it can be easily viewed without specialist tools in many applications on Mac, Linux and Windows and mobile. Here is the obligatory cat picture on my Mac with the metadata shown in Preview and Finder on my Mac.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of EXIF?

It works very well if the data you are interested in matches the Exif specification. But a weakness of EXIF is that you cannot alter or add your own tags to suit your workflow. This has led to alternative metadata formats such as XMP which is an extensible XML markup developed by Adobe.

Another potential issue with EXIF data is that there is no security or encryption. Anyone can access the information and it may includes things you do not wish to reveal, such as the location where the photo was taken.

As experienced Java developers, we help you work with images in Java and bring over a decade of hands-on experience with many image file formats.

How JPedal allows you to view the commands in a PDF stream

IDRSolutions — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 11:51:24 +0000

A new version of JPedal has been released, and it contains an exciting new feature—the object stream decoder. JPedal is the best Java PDF library for developers. If you want to use this for yourself, you can download the latest version of JPedal here. You can also view the release notes here.

What are PDF streams?

Objects in a PDF file contain streams however, these are usually stored in binary format and often compressed. JPedal now has the ability to decode these PDF streams into plain text for you to view.

Get started

Using our PDF Inspector tool you can look at the internal structure and contents of any PDF file. If you open up the Cross-Reference Viewer or the Object Viewer you will see there is a new ‘Decode Stream’ button.

If you select a PDF stream object and hit this button a new window will popup with the decoded contents of the PDF stream. This will then allow you to view the commands inside a PDF file.

Here is an example of what this could look like:

Learn more

Download JPedal and try for yourself.

Learn more about JPedal’s PDF Inspector.

How to view Multi-TIFF files in Java (Tutorial)

IDRSolutions — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 11:24:58 +0000

In this article, I will show you how to read and view Multi-TIFF files in Java. We already have an article on How to read TIFF images in Java, why not check it out!

JDeli helps you read, write and convert TIFF files in pure Java.

What is a Multi-TIFF file?

TIFF (Tag Image File Format) files are able to contain multiple images. This is what we would call a Multi-TIFF file.

How to view in Java?

First you need to read the images into Java. The standard JDK does not support multi-tiff images so you will need to use an additional library such as JDeli. JDeli is the best pure Java image library for performance and efficiency. You can only store one image in a BufferedImage, so JDeli returns an image count and a method to read each image.

final TiffDecoder tiff = new TiffDecoder();
final int imageCount = tiff.getImageCount(file);
BufferedImage image = tiff.readImageAt(currentIm, file);

Once you have the images as BufferedImages, they are easy to display in Java.

If you have read my previous post on How to view images in Java, then you already have an image viewer in Java or you can clone our Java Image Viewer GitHub repository. You can now modify it to view multi-TIFF images.

Additional code needed to support Multi-Tiff files in Java Viewer

First, you need to read each image in the file and display it. You can achieve this by keeping a count of the images in the file:

final TiffDecoder tiff = new TiffDecoder();
final int imageCount = tiff.getImageCount(file);

Then displaying them one by one with buttons to allow you to cycle through them, much like in our JDeli viewer.

final int currentIm = 0;
final JButton next = new JButton("Next image");
final JButton prev = new JButton("Previous image");
next.addActionListener(a -> {
  if (currentIm < imageCount – 1) {
    currentIm++;
    drawImage();
  }
});
prev.addActionListener(a -> {
  if (currIm > 0) {
    curentIm–;
    drawImage();
  }
});
// Add the buttons to the viewer
final JPanel multiButtons = new JPanel();
multiButtons.add(prev);
multiButtons.add(next);
add(multiButtons, BorderLayout.PAGE_END);

The draw image method would be one you’d use to set the image each time something like:

BufferedImage image = tiff.readImageAt(currentIm, file);
imageLabel.setIcon(new ImageIcon(image));

Now you can view all the images in your multi-TIFF file!

As experienced Java developers, we help you work with images in Java and bring over a decade of hands-on experience with many image file formats.

How to copy bookmarks from one PDF to another

IDRSolutions — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:51:57 +0000

JPedal already has the ability to read bookmarks from PDF files so now you can chain this functionality with our OutlineWriter to copy bookmarks from one PDF to another. JPedal is the best Java PDF library for developers.

How to Copy bookmarks using Java

Add JPedal to your class or module path. (Download the trial JAR).
Next, read the outline into a Document object:

// Read
final ExtractOutline extract = new ExtractOutline("source.pdf");
extract.openPDFFile();
final Document outlines = extract.getPDFTextOutline();
extract.closePDFfile();

Then, write the Document object to the destination PDF:

// Write
final OutlineWriter writer = new OutlineWriter("destination.pdf", outlines);
writer.writeOutline();

Copy bookmarks using the command line JPedal also provides a convenient command line method to copy bookmarks between PDF files:

java -jar jpedal.jar –copyoutline "oldfile.pdf" "newfile.pdf"

Working with PDFs can be troublesome. We have a list of different articles to help you understand the PDF format and maximise its functionality.

HTML and SVG Explained (Along with Use Cases)

IDRSolutions — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 14:40:01 +0000

In this article I will explain what HTML and SVG, how they’re related and which might be suited for your use case.

What is HTML?

HTML is the text-based language invented by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN to create web pages. It is displayed by Browsers (IE, Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc).

The HTML language is defined by an international committee that releases a public specification. We are currently on HTML Version 5 (HTML5). You will find minor differences (which we often document on this blog) in support across browsers but no ‘major’ issues with HTML5 support in the major browsers.

How does HTML work?

This page you are reading is written in HTML but how does html code work? HTML contains both the text and instructions on how to display the text, links to images, etc. You might be wondering how HTML is used, I like to think of HTML as containing the page content, the structure of the page (HyperText Markup), and the style of the page (CSS).

You can write it from scratch in a text editor, but most people use tools to create it. There is now a huge range of dedicated tools to do this and many other applications (like the NetBeans IDE) also support it.

HTML5 Features

HTML5 had some major additions to the HTML features including:-

A Canvas (for writing action games and animation).
Support for video and sound
Offline support
Location functionality
SVG support (so SVG is now part of HTML)
Improved CSS support (which can also be used for animations and transitions).

HTML also includes support for fillable forms and interactive elements. The pages can contain JavaScript code and be dynamically updated.

HTML5 is the first version of HTML which we feel is good enough to make a decent conversion from PDF possible. You can try yourself and see what you think with our free PDF online converter.

Here is what HTML looks like as a page and the raw HTML code. The HTML is text but can include links to images and other pages.

If you’re working with PDFs and would like to convert them to HTML for your web applications, you can learn more about our product BuildVu. BuildVu is the best tool for converting PDF to HTML.

What is SVG?

SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics (although it can also include text and bitmaps). Such vector graphics do not lose their quality when zoomed or resized because they are scalable. This means that you define the content using simple text instructions, and when it is scaled, the browser will redraw it at the required resolution – so the Vector content is sharp with no pixelation at any resolution.

SVG Support

SVG has been around since 1999 (the joke was that it was the technology of the future and always would be). However, all modern browsers now support SVG either directly or as part of the HTML5 specification, so it is becoming increasingly common to use. It is based on XML and provides a text-based language to create shapes, text and embed images.

How does SVG work?

When SVG is used to build a page, more complicated pages can take longer to render. If you are interested in improving SVG files, my colleague Leon wrote a blog post describing six ways of optimising SVG files.

You can embed forms and video in SVG as Foreign objects, but in general, it lacks the wide range of features available in HTML5. It has arguably better drawing capabilities than HTML5 and when we compare the results of HTML5 and SVG from our converter side by side, the SVG generally looks ‘better’ (you can see 2 examples on this page to compare).

Here is what SVG looks like as a page and the raw SVG code. The SVG is text but can include links to images and other pages. You can use BuildVu to convert your PDFs to SVG for display on your own web applications.

More examples of HTML and SVG

Visit our BuildVu page to see more sample HTML and SVG files created from our PDF converter.

There is a very popular library called D3.js that has been used for some amazing things.

You can find an impressive example of animated SVG here (click and drag the nodes).

Conclusions – our take on HTML and SVG…

Our experience of HTML5 and SVG from developing our PDF converter has been that both have their strengths and weaknesses.

SVG is superior if you want a static display of vector content.

If you want to write animation, HTML5 has a canvas mode.

If you want to use JavaScript or Fillable forms HTML5 is the choice.

In practice, the fact that SVG is part of HTML5 means that you can use them together and this is the choice we have adopted for our PDF converter.

Comparing PNG Compression Algorithms

IDRSolutions — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:38:13 +0000

In this article, we will be comparing the different compression methods available for use in PNG images. To do this, we will be using our Java image library, JDeli. JDeli is the best pure Java image library for performance and efficiency. We will be comparing against file size, quality of output, and speed.

For the baseline of our comparisons, we will be using the following image. It has a file size of 39.3MB and takes just under 5 seconds to encode.

DEFLATE

DEFLATE was designed in the 1990s and is most commonly using in ZIP file archives due to its lossless property.

Using DEFLATE, the file size is reduced to 5.1MB taking around 6 seconds to encode. Since DEFLATE is lossless, the image quality is preserved and matches the original file.

QUANTISE

QUANTISE is a lossy compression technique that reduces file size by limiting the range of available colours. It is commonly used in PNG and GIF images.

Using QUANTISE, the file size is reduced to 3.5MB. QUANTISE is lossy, so there is a reduction in image quality, most noticeably in the range of colours which are output. It also takes around 6 seconds to encode.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are not a great deal of options when it comes to different compression algorithms in PNG files. DEFLATE is a clear winner here as it reduces the file size with no loss of quality. QUANTISE would only be better when the smallest possible file size is necessary.

As experienced Java developers, we help you work with images in Java and bring over a decade of hands-on experience with many image file formats.

How to debug PDF files

IDRSolutions — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:09:55 +0000

The first JPedal release of 2023 has just been published and with it, some exciting new features have been added to our Java PDF debugger! With a PDF debugger, you can inspect and debug PDF files easily. Read about our new release here to find out more.

Viewing Images in the PDF debugger

You can now view images in JPedal’s own PDF debugger.

The Xref Viewer and the Object Tree Viewer both allow you to view the image content of XObjects. This can be done by selecting an XObject and pressing ‘Show Image’.

The Command Window allows you to view the image content of ID and DO commands. This can be done by right-clicking on the command and pressing ‘View Image’.

Read more about viewing images in the inspector here.

Debug Breakpoints

The Limit Decode Slider in the PDF debugger now has breakpoints.

You can select a command to toggle a breakpoint and pressing the resume button will decode the page up until the next breakpoint.

Xref Viewer Improvements

The Xref Viewer has been updated and now supports cross-reference streams as well as Xref tables.

Learn more

You can read more about JPedal’s PDF inspector on our website.

PDF Performance and UX Issues in Web Publishing (Why PDFs Slow Down Websites)

IDRSolutions — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 08:50:56 +0000

Why PDFs Cause Performance and UX Issues in Web Publishing

Embedding PDFs in websites is a common approach for digital publishing platforms, but it often introduces performance and user experience issues that are difficult to control.

If you manage a publishing platform, content hub, or document-heavy application, you have likely seen slow load times, poor mobile usability, and limited flexibility when working with PDFs in the browser.

Understanding why PDFs struggle in web environments is key to improving both content performance and user engagement.

Why Do PDFs Load Slowly on Websites?

PDFs load slowly on websites because they are large, fixed layout files that require full document rendering in the browser. Unlike HTML, which loads progressively, PDFs often need to be processed in full before users can interact with them. This increases load times, especially for image-heavy or long documents, and impacts performance across devices.

Why PDFs Slow Down Websites (PDF Performance Issues)

PDFs are typically large, high-fidelity files designed to preserve layout and visual accuracy. While this is useful for print and distribution, it creates performance challenges when delivered through a browser.

Rendering a PDF requires significant browser resources. Instead of loading lightweight, structured web content, the browser must process an entire document, often including high-resolution images and complex formatting.

For publishing platforms, this results in slower page load times, delayed interaction, and inconsistent rendering across devices. As content libraries scale, these performance issues compound, impacting overall site speed and increasing bounce rates.

The impact is even more pronounced on mobile, where bandwidth and processing power are limited, and users expect fast, responsive experiences.

PDF User Experience Problems (Mobile and Responsive Issues)

PDFs are not designed to be responsive. On mobile devices, users often need to zoom, pan, and manually navigate documents just to read basic content.

This creates friction compared to native web pages, where content automatically adapts to screen size and supports intuitive scrolling and interaction.

For publishers, this directly affects engagement metrics. When users struggle to consume content, they are more likely to drop off, reducing time on page and overall retention.

Why PDFs Don’t Work Well on Websites

At a fundamental level, PDFs were built for print, not for the web. They are fixed-layout documents, whereas modern web experiences rely on flexible, responsive, and interactive content.

When PDFs are embedded into websites, they rely on browser-based rendering engines that limit performance, control, and consistency. This makes it difficult for publishing teams to optimise content delivery, personalise experiences, or integrate seamlessly with web analytics and workflows.

As a result, PDFs often become a constraint rather than an enabler in digital publishing environments.

Better Alternatives to PDFs for Web Publishing

To address these challenges, many publishing platforms are moving towards web-native formats such as HTML5 and SVG.

By converting PDFs into HTML5 content, publishers can deliver faster load times, responsive layouts, and a more seamless reading experience across devices.

This approach also provides greater control over content structure, styling, and interaction, making it easier to optimise performance, improve accessibility, and integrate with existing web systems.

For publishing teams managing large volumes of content, this shift enables better scalability and a more consistent user experience.

How to Fix PDF Performance and UX Issues in Web Publishing

PDFs remain useful for document distribution, but they introduce clear limitations when used within web publishing platforms.

If performance, responsiveness, and user engagement are priorities, relying on embedded PDFs can hold your platform back.

Converting PDFs into web-native formats offers a more scalable and user-friendly solution. Tools like BuildVu enable publishing teams to transform PDFs into fast, responsive HTML5 content that works seamlessly in the browser.

By making this shift, publishing platforms can reduce friction, improve load times, and create a better experience for their users.

Explore more ways to improve digital publishing performance, user experience, and content delivery at scale. Trial BuildVu now to convert your PDFs into fast, web-native HTML5 content.

Comparing TIFF Compression Algorithms

IDRSolutions — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:47:38 +0000

In this post, we will be exploring the different TIFF compression techniques you can use. We will investigate their effect on different metrics such as file size, quality of output, and speed. We will be using our image library JDeli to compress a TIFF file (sample image). JDeli is the best pure Java image library for performance and efficiency.

For the baseline of our comparisons, we will use the following uncompressed image. It has a file size of 39.3MB. It takes just under 5 seconds to encode.

JPEG

First introduced in the 90s, JPEG has remained a popular compression format for images due to its decent tradeoff between quality and file size. JPEG is lossy meaning you cannot recover the original pixel data from the compressed image.

Straight off the bat, we see a dramatic reduction in file size: 1.2MB! Even with this tiny file size, the quality of the image is only slightly worse than the original.

Viewing at its default resolution, it is hard to tell the difference, however upon zooming in you will notice a less sharp image with slightly more noise and artefacts. Using JPEG compression, the encoding takes around 5 seconds, it is almost as quick as the original.

LZW

Lempel–Ziv–Welch (named after its creators) was introduced in 1984, and is used today by Unix’s compress program. It is also the compression algorithm used in GIF images.

Using LZW compression, we observe a file size of 18MB. Since LZW is lossless, there is no reduction in the quality of the image. Like JPEG, encoding with LZW takes around 5 seconds.

An interesting quirk about LZW is that is has the potential to make file sizes bigger. An image with lots of noise will not see a reduced file size if compressed with LZW.

DEFLATE

DEFLATE was also designed in the 90s and is popular in PNG images and also the ZIP archive format.

Using DEFLATE, the file size is reduced. Like LZW, DEFLATE is lossless, so the quality of the compressed image remains the same as the original. The downside of DEFLATE however, is that it takes much longer to encode.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is no best tiff compression algorithm that solves all problems. JPEG is best if you want a tiny file size with a small reduction in quality however LZW and DEFLATE are necessary if you want to preserve the original image. LZW encodes slightly larger than DEFLATE but is much faster so the answer will depend on your use case.

As experienced Java developers, we help you work with images in Java and bring over a decade of hands-on experience with many image file formats.