---
id: pypdf4
version: "1.27.0"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# PyPDF4 — PDF toolkit

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 92.2K/mo

## What it is and what it does

PyPDF4 is a pure-Python PDF manipulation library that lets you read, extract metadata from, split, merge, crop, and encrypt/decrypt PDF files without requiring external system libraries or compiled dependencies. It can work directly with file streams or in-memory StringIO objects, making it suitable for server-side PDF handling in web applications.

The package has been abandoned since its release on 2018-08-07 with no updates in 2929 days. While it carries a permissive BSD license and claims production-stable status, the lack of active maintenance means bugs are unlikely to be fixed, compatibility with newer Python versions is not guaranteed, and security issues would not be addressed. It remains in the top tier by download volume, suggesting some ongoing use despite its dormant state.

Use it for:

- Extract title, author, and other metadata from PDF files in batch processing workflows.
- Split multi-page PDFs into individual pages or merge multiple PDFs into a single document.
- Crop or resize PDF pages programmatically without external tools.
- Encrypt or decrypt PDF files for access control in document management systems.
- Manipulate PDFs entirely in memory on web servers without writing temporary files to disk.

## Worth the install?

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

PyPDF4 is a pure-Python PDF toolkit for extracting document metadata, splitting and merging pages, cropping, encrypting, and decrypting PDF files without external dependencies.

No. PyPDF4 is abandoned (no updates since 2018-08-07, 2929 days ago) and high install friction makes it a risky choice for new projects. Use only if maintaining legacy code that already depends on it and cannot migrate.

## Install

pip install pypdf4
uv add pypdf4
poetry add pypdf4

## Installing PyPDF4

Before you install: High install friction: the package has been abandoned for 2929 days with no updates since its initial release on 2018-08-07. No active maintenance or bug fixes are being applied.

License in practice: Licensed under BSD (permissive), allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, though the abandoned status means no ongoing legal or security review.

Quickstart:

pip install PyPDF4==1.27.0

from PyPDF4 import PdfFileReader, PdfFileWriter

with open('input.pdf', 'rb') as f:
    reader = PdfFileReader(f)
    writer = PdfFileWriter()
    writer.addPage(reader.getPage(0))
    with open('output.pdf', 'wb') as out:
        writer.write(out)

Pure-Python implementation may be slow on large PDFs; no active maintenance means compatibility issues with newer Python versions are unlikely to be fixed.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package works reliably with modern Python versions given its abandoned status and lack of recent testing.
- Current real-world performance on large or complex PDF files.
- Whether in-memory StringIO-based PDF manipulation is production-ready or has known limitations.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: high
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 92.2K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

PDF manipulation Python, extract PDF metadata, split merge PDF pages, encrypt decrypt PDF, PDF toolkit pure Python, in-memory PDF processing, crop PDF pages, abandoned, pdf-processing, pure-python

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/pypdf4) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pypdf4/)