How to extract clipped images from PDF file in Java

#java #programming #tutorial #pdf

This tutorial shows you how to extract clipped images from a PDF file in 5 simple steps using the JPedal PDF library. JPedal is the best Java PDF library for developers. Clipped images are raw images that have had their formats edited; this includes cropping, flipping, resizing and more.

How to Extract clipped images from PDF files?

1. Add JPedal to your class or module path. (download the trial jar).
Create a File handle, InputStream, or URL pointing to the PDF file
Include a password if file is password-protected
Open the PDF file
Iterate over the images on each page
Close the PDF file

and the Java code to extract clipped images…

File file = new File("/path/to/document.pdf"));
ExtractClippedImages extract = new ExtractClippedImages(file);
//extract.setPassword("password");
if (extract.openPDFFile()) {
    int pageCount = extract.getPageCount();
    for (int page = 1; page <= pageCount; page++) {
        int imagesOnPageCount = extract.getImageCount(page);
        for (int image = 0; image < imagesOnPageCount; image++) {
            BufferedImage img = extract.getClippedImage(page, image, true);
        }
    }
}
extract.closePDFfile();

Why use a third-party library to handle PDF files?

PDF files are a very complex binary/text hybrid data structure. The image data, color information, clipping and scaling details are all stored separately in a compressed format and need to be extracted and combined together.

A third-party library handles all of this for you automatically. In this example, we will use our JPedal PDF library. This provides an easy-to-use Java PDF APi so you can work with PDF files easily in Java.