---
id: ghostscript
version: "0.8.1"
license: GPL-3.0-or-later
license_treatment: copyleft
maintenance: aging
---

# ghostscript — Interface to the Ghostscript C-API, both high- and low-level, based on ctypes

License: copyleft · Maintenance: aging · Downloads: 391.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

python-ghostscript wraps the Ghostscript C-API using Python's ctypes module, allowing you to invoke Ghostscript functionality directly from Python code. It provides both a low-level interface for direct C-API calls and a higher-level Pythonic API for common tasks like PostScript-to-PDF conversion. The package is intended for developers and requires an external Ghostscript installation (version 9.0.8 or higher) on the system.

You use it by instantiating a Ghostscript object with command-line arguments, similar to calling the Ghostscript command-line tool from Python. It supports processing files or passing document strings directly. The package has no Python runtime dependencies but depends on ctypes (part of the standard library) and the Ghostscript C library being available on your system.

Use it for:

- Convert PostScript files to PDF or other formats programmatically within a Python application.
- Process PDF files using Ghostscript operations (rendering, merging, optimization) from Python code.
- Build document processing pipelines that need PostScript interpretation or PDF manipulation.
- Automate batch conversion of PostScript documents to other formats in a Python workflow.
- Embed Ghostscript functionality in a larger Python application without shelling out to the command line.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides a Python interface to the Ghostscript C-API using ctypes, enabling PostScript and PDF processing through both low-level and high-level APIs.

Yes, if you need PostScript or PDF processing in Python and can install Ghostscript separately. The package is stable and has low install friction. However, the aging maintenance status (443 days since last release) and GPL-3.0-or-later copyleft license warrant careful consideration of your project's licensing constraints. Not suitable for projects that cannot accept GPLv3 obligations.

## Install

pip install ghostscript
uv add ghostscript
poetry add ghostscript

## Installing ghostscript

Before you install: Low install friction as a pure-Python wheel. Maintenance is aging (443 days since last release), though the package is marked Production/Stable and has been active since 2010.

License in practice: Licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft). Any code linking this package must comply with GPLv3 terms, including potential source code disclosure obligations.

Quickstart:

import ghostscript

args = ["ps2pdf", "-dNOPAUSE", "-dBATCH", "-dSAFER",
        "-sDEVICE=pdfwrite", "-sOutputFile=out.pdf", "-f", "input.ps"]
ghostscript.Ghostscript(*args)

Requires Ghostscript (system library) version 9.0.8 or higher to be installed separately; ctypes is used to call the Ghostscript C-API.

Verify before relying:

- Current compatibility with Ghostscript versions beyond 9.0.8 and whether all tested Python versions (3.6–3.13) remain actively supported.
- Whether the package works reliably on non-Linux platforms, as documentation notes testing is limited to GNU/Linux.

## Package facts

- License: GPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: aging
- Downloads: 391.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ghostscript python interface, pdf postscript processing, ghostscript ctypes wrapper, ps2pdf conversion, pdf manipulation python, postscript interpreter, ghostscript bindings, pdf-processing, postscript, ctypes-wrapper

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