# qpdf/qpdf

qpdf: A content-preserving PDF document transformer

Repository: https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/qpdf
Homepage: https://qpdf.sourceforge.io/
Language: C++
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: pdf, pdf-document-processor
Last push: 2026-08-22T20:02:51+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 96, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5204, "days_push": 11, "days_rel": 24, "gap_med": 28, "n_releases_24m": 10}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5350, forks 396 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:15.928497+00:00)

## What it is
qpdf is a command-line tool and C++ library that performs content-preserving transformations on PDF files, supporting linearization, encryption, splitting, merging, and structural inspection. It is a low-level tool for manipulating PDF file structure and does not render PDFs or extract text.

## Use cases
- linearize a pdf for fast web viewing
- encrypt or decrypt a pdf file from the command line
- split a pdf into individual pages
- merge multiple pdf files into one
- inspect the internal structure of a pdf file
- repair a corrupted pdf file
- programmatically manipulate pdf structure from c++

## When to choose
- you need low-level, structural manipulation of PDF files without altering content
- you want a scriptable command-line tool for pdf linearization, encryption, splitting, or merging
- you need a reliable C++ library for programmatic PDF file transformation
- you want to inspect or debug the internals of a PDF file

## When to avoid
- you need to render PDFs to images or screens
- you need text extraction or OCR from PDFs
- you want high-level interfaces for editing page contents or adding annotations
- you need to create PDFs with rich content from scratch

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: pdf, cli, developer-tools, file-system, security
- domain: pdf, files, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cli, cpp
- tags: pdf-manipulation, pdf-linearization, pdf-encryption, pdf-splitting, pdf-merging, c-plus-plus-library, content-preserving, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- qpdf/qpdf (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:15.928497+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:58:47.923403+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:15.928497+00:00, sha df1c187f4d6c)
  - homepage: https://qpdf.sourceforge.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:06.802797+00:00, sha 8d9d8845d8bf)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.