pypdf: Pure Python PDF Toolkit

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When you need to manipulate PDFs in Python without heavy external dependencies, pypdf is the go-to solution. This pure Python library provides comprehensive PDF manipulation capabilities including splitting, merging, cropping, rotating, encrypting, and text extraction, all without requiring any native code or system libraries.

Pypdf has been the standard Python PDF library for over a decade. It has evolved through multiple major versions and now offers a clean, modern API that is easy to use while being remarkably powerful under the hood. The library parses the PDF specification directly, giving it access to every element in the document structure.

Core Capabilities

Feature	Description	API
Page operations	Merge, split, rotate, scale, crop	PdfWriter + PdfReader
Metadata	Read and write document metadata	metadata property
Encryption	PDF password protection and decryption	encrypt() / decrypt()
Text extraction	Extract text from pages with layout options	extract_text()
Form filling	Fill PDF AcroForm fields	update_page_form_field_values()

Document Processing Flow

flowchart LR
 A[Input PDFs] --> B[PdfReader]
 B --> C{Operation Type}
 C -->|Merge| D[PdfWriter.append]
 C -->|Split| E[PdfWriter per page]
 C -->|Transform| F[Page transformation]
 C -->|Extract| G[text_extraction]
 D --> H[PdfWriter]
 E --> H
 F --> H
 G --> H
 H --> I[write() to File]

The workflow centers around PdfReader for input and PdfWriter for output. Pages are read, manipulated, and assembled into a new document. Text extraction bypasses the Writer path and returns strings directly.

Merge on SoloSoft

pypdf: Pure Python PDF Toolkit

Core Capabilities

Document Processing Flow