pdf-oxide
The fastest Python PDF library — 0.8ms mean, 5× faster than the industry leaders, 100% pass rate on 3,830 real-world PDFs. Text extraction, Markdown/HTML conversion, PDF creation and editing.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you need fast, reliable PDF text or image extraction without licensing restrictions. The permissive dual license, zero runtime dependencies, and precompiled wheels make it a low-friction alternative to AGPL-licensed competitors. Active maintenance and no known vulnerabilities support stability. Install friction is medium but manageable; the main constraint is Python 3.9+. Suitable for production use in commercial and closed-source projects.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.9 or later.
- Medium friction: precompiled wheels for Linux, macOS, and Windows (x86_64, aarch64, arm64) mean no build step or Rust toolchain required.
- Requires Python 3.9+.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT OR Apache-2.0 (permissive) — Dual MIT / Apache-2.0 license permits unrestricted commercial and closed-source use, unlike some competing PDF libraries. No copyleft obligations.
last release 2026-07-28 (17 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-14 · 955 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 160,772 downloads/mo, #10,652 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install pdf_oxide
from pdf_oxide import PdfDocument
with PdfDocument("paper.pdf") as doc:
print(len(doc)) # page count
for page in doc:
text = page.text
md = page.markdown(detect_headings=True)- Whether the 0.8ms mean and 100% pass rate claims are independently verified or from the maintainer's own benchmark.
- Whether image extraction returns raw bytes or requires additional dependencies to save to disk.
- Whether form field editing and PDF creation are fully stable or still experimental in this version.
What it is and what it does
pdf-oxide is a Python binding to a Rust-based PDF toolkit that handles text extraction, image extraction, markdown and HTML conversion, form field manipulation, and PDF creation. It ships as precompiled wheels for common platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows on x86_64 and ARM) with no system dependencies or build step required. The library exposes a page-based API where extraction is lazy—properties like `page.text` and `page.markdown()` compute results only when accessed.
The package targets developers building document pipelines, RAG systems, or LLM integrations who need reliable PDF parsing without the overhead of heavier alternatives. It supports Python 3.9 through 3.14, has zero runtime dependencies, and is licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0, making it suitable for commercial and closed-source projects. The fact sheet indicates active maintenance (latest release 17 days old, 955 GitHub stars) and no known security vulnerabilities.
Use it for
- Extract text from PDFs for indexing into a vector database or RAG pipeline.
- Convert PDF documents to Markdown for processing by language models.
- Batch extract images from scanned documents or reports.
- Fill PDF form fields programmatically and save the result.
- Search for keywords across a PDF and retrieve their page and bounding-box locations.
- Generate PDFs from Markdown, HTML, or images as part of a document generation workflow.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you need fast, reliable PDF text or image extraction without licensing restrictions.
The permissive dual license, zero runtime dependencies, and precompiled wheels make it a low-friction alternative to AGPL-licensed competitors. Active maintenance and no known vulnerabilities support stability. Install friction is medium but manageable; the main constraint is Python 3.9+. Suitable for production use in commercial and closed-source projects.
Install
pdf-oxide on PyPI
Before you install
Medium friction: precompiled wheels for Linux, macOS, and Windows (x86_64, aarch64, arm64) mean no build step or Rust toolchain required. Requires Python 3.9+. Active maintenance with latest release 17 days old.
Requires Python 3.9 or later.
License in practice
Dual MIT / Apache-2.0 license permits unrestricted commercial and closed-source use, unlike some competing PDF libraries. No copyleft obligations.
Quickstart
pip install pdf_oxide
from pdf_oxide import PdfDocument
with PdfDocument("paper.pdf") as doc:
print(len(doc)) # page count
for page in doc:
text = page.text
md = page.markdown(detect_headings=True)Verify before relying
- Whether the 0.8ms mean and 100% pass rate claims are independently verified or from the maintainer's own benchmark.
- Whether image extraction returns raw bytes or requires additional dependencies to save to disk.
- Whether form field editing and PDF creation are fully stable or still experimental in this version.
Package facts
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.9 |
| Install friction | Medium. Platform-specific wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 17 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 160,772 / month, #10,652 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 4 - BetaIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchLicense :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software LicenseLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: RustTopic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Information AnalysisTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python ModulesTopic :: Text ProcessingTopic :: Text Processing :: GeneralTopic :: Text Processing :: Markup :: HTMLTopic :: Text Processing :: Markup :: Markdown |
Evidence: pdf_oxide-0.3.77-cp38-abi3-macosx_10_12_x86_64.whl; pdf_oxide-0.3.77-cp38-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; pdf_oxide-0.3.77-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; pdf_oxide-0.3.77-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; pdf_oxide-0.3.77-cp38-abi3-musllinux_1_2_aarch64.whl; pdf_oxide-0.3.77-cp38-abi3-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl; pdf_oxide-0.3.77-cp38-abi3-win_amd64.whl; pdf_oxide-0.3.77-cp38-abi3-win_arm64.whl
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See also pymupdf · pdftext · marker-pdf · kreuzberg · camelot-py · unPDF · pymupdf4llm · liteparse · pdftotext · pypdfium2