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What you’ll build
A Java program that takes a PDF file path and an output directory, then writes HTML5 with embedded fonts and images. The output renders in any modern browser without plugins or a PDF reader.Requirements
The example uses BuildVu, a commercial PDF to HTML library from IDRsolutions. A 30-day trial JAR is available with no signup required for evaluation.- BuildVu (the example was tested on 2026.05)
- Java 17 or later
- Maven or Gradle, or the raw JAR on the classpath
Add BuildVu to your project
Maven
Add the IDRsolutions repository and the BuildVu dependency to your pom.xml:
<repositories>
<repository>
<id>IDRsolutions</id>
<name>IDR Solutions</name>
<url>https://maven.idrsolutions.com</url>
</repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.idrsolutions</groupId>
<artifactId>{artifactId}</artifactId>
<version>{version}</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
Replace {artifactId} and {version} with the trial or licensed artifact you need and the current release. You’ll also need to add your credentials — see the Maven dependency guide for full setup, including the manual JAR install option.
Gradle
Add the BuildVu JAR as a local file dependency in your build.gradle:
dependencies {
implementation files("lib/buildvu.jar")
}
Using the Kotlin DSL (the default for new Gradle projects)? Use implementation(files("lib/buildvu.jar")) instead.
Or use the IDRsolutions remote Maven repository:
dependencies {
implementation "com.idrsolutions:{artifactId}:{version}"
}
See the Gradle dependency guide for repository and credentials setup, including the recommended gradle.properties approach, and the Kotlin DSL equivalents for the remote-repository snippets.
No build tool
If you’re not using a build tool, add the JAR to your classpath manually.Minimal working example
This is the smallest amount of code that produces a working conversion:
import org.jpedal.examples.html.PDFtoHTML5Converter;
import org.jpedal.exception.PdfException;
import org.jpedal.render.output.ContentOptions;
import org.jpedal.render.output.html.HTMLConversionOptions;
import java.io.File;
public class PdfToHtml {
public static void main(String[] args) {
File pdfFile = new File("input.pdf");
File outputDir = new File("output/");
HTMLConversionOptions conversionOptions = new HTMLConversionOptions();
ContentOptions contentOptions = new ContentOptions();
PDFtoHTML5Converter converter = new PDFtoHTML5Converter(
pdfFile, outputDir, conversionOptions, contentOptions
);
try {
converter.convert();
System.out.println("Conversion complete: " + outputDir.getAbsolutePath());
} catch (PdfException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
input.pdf next to it, run it, and the output/ directory will contain the converted HTML.Choose an output mode
The fourth argument toPDFtoHTML5Converter decides what kind of output you get. Swap the class and the rest of the program stays the same:ContentOptions — raw fragments
What the example above uses. Each page is a standalone HTML fragment with no viewer wrapper, meant to be embedded in your own page or served as a static asset.
new PDFtoHTML5Converter(pdfFile, outputDir, conversionOptions, new ContentOptions());
IDRViewerOptions — the bundled viewer
BuildVu’s default. Wraps the pages in the IDRViewer, a JavaScript viewer with page navigation, zoom, search, and thumbnails. Use this when you want a ready-to-open document viewer rather than raw content to drop into your own UI.
new PDFtoHTML5Converter(pdfFile, outputDir, conversionOptions, new IDRViewerOptions());
SinglefileOptions — one self-contained file
Produces a single HTML file with the CSS, fonts, and images inlined. It’s optimised, not a naive merge — CSS is shared across pages with duplicates removed — so the result stays lean, easy to move around, and simple to parse. Not recommended for large or complex documents, where a single inlined file gets heavy.
new PDFtoHTML5Converter(pdfFile, outputDir, conversionOptions, new SinglefileOptions());
See the view mode documentation for the details of each mode.
Useful content-mode settings
Most of BuildVu’s defaults are already sensible, so there is little to change for a first conversion. When you are embedding fragments, a fewContentOptions settings do earn their place:Emit standalone documents instead of fragments
Wraps each page inhtml, head, and body tags so it opens on its own, rather than as a fragment you splice into an existing page.
contentOptions.setCompleteDocument(true);
Avoid CSS collisions between documents
Appends a suffix to every generated CSS class and id, so multiple conversions shown in the same page don’t clash with each other’s styles. Give each document a different suffix.
contentOptions.setCssSuffix("doc1");
Generate a search index
Writes asearch.json alongside the pages so you can build text search over the converted document.
contentOptions.setGenerateSearchFile(true);
Common issues
Encrypted PDFs
If the PDF has a password, set it on the converter before callingconvert():
converter.setPassword("yourPassword");
converter.convert();
PdfException.Memory usage
BuildVu reads the PDF from disk rather than loading it all into memory, so the heap you need depends on content, not file size: large pages, high-resolution images, and complex shadings are the main drivers. 1GB handles most documents; raise it for content-heavy ones:
java -Xmx1g -jar yourapp.jar
Output directory must be writable
The output directory has to exist or be creatable by the running process. On Linux servers, the most common cause of a silent failure is a permission issue on the parent directory.Scanned PDFs have no text to convert
BuildVu converts what’s actually in the PDF. A scanned document is just page images with no text layer, so the output is HTML wrapping those images — visually accurate, but with no selectable or searchable text. Recovering text requires OCR, which BuildVu doesn’t do; run the PDF through an OCR tool to add a text layer first, then convert.How BuildVu compares to other Java options
The PDF to HTML space in Java has fewer options than developers usually expect, because most libraries marketed as “HTML conversion” actually go the other direction (HTML to PDF). The honest comparison:| Library | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apryse PDFTron | Commercial | Native library with Java bindings, not pure Java. |
| Aspose.PDF for Java | Commercial | Pure Java. Conversion is one feature in a broader PDF manipulation suite. |
| BuildVu | Commercial | Pure Java, focused specifically on PDF to HTML5 and SVG. Runs in-process or as a microservice. |
| Spire.PDF for Java | Commercial (free tier with page limits) | Pure Java. Free version restricts the number of pages converted per document. |
Open source PDF to HTML options in Java
Open source options exist but come with practical problems. pdf2htmlEX, the most-cited example, is a C++ tool rather than a Java library, so using it from a JVM application means shelling out to a native binary and parsing its output. The project has been intermittently maintained since the original author stepped away in 2017, depends on a patched build of Poppler that complicates the build process, and produces single-file HTML output with base64-embedded assets that’s awkward to manipulate downstream. The license is GPLv3, which rules it out for most commercial Java products without legal review, and there’s no commercial support to fall back on when a customer PDF breaks the conversion. The pure Java characteristic matters because you’re deploying to environments where native dependencies are awkward (containerized JVMs, some PaaS providers, Jakarta EE servers).Frequently Asked Questions
How do I convert PDF to HTML in Java without using a server?
Use an in-process Java library like BuildVu that runs inside your JVM. You add it as a dependency and call the converter from your application code — the conversion happens in the same process, with no network calls, no separate service, and no data leaving your environment.Does the converted HTML rely on any external resources?
No. Everything the page needs is local: in content and IDRViewer modes the CSS, fonts, and images sit alongside the HTML and are referenced with relative paths, and single-file mode inlines them into the page itself. There are no CDN links or remote calls, so the output renders in air-gapped or offline environments.How well does the original PDF layout survive conversion to HTML?
Good Java libraries preserve layout using absolute CSS positioning, keeping text, images, and vector graphics at sub-pixel coordinates that match the source. Fonts are extracted from the PDF and embedded with @font-face declarations so typography matches even on systems without the original font installed.What happens to interactive PDF elements like forms, annotations, and hyperlinks?
BuildVu preserves interactive annotations such as hyperlinks, rich media, and markup annotations with popups. Form fields are the exception: they are rendered as static content rather than interactive HTML inputs. For fillable forms in the browser, FormVu converts PDF forms to interactive HTML in Java.BuildVu allows you to
| View PDF files in a Web app |
| Convert PDF documents to HTML5 |
| Parse PDF documents as HTML |
What is BuildVu?
BuildVu is a commercial SDK for converting PDF files into standalone HTML or SVG.
Why use BuildVu?
BuildVu allows you to integrate PDF into your HTML workflow effortlessly and securely by producing clean HTML that is easy for developers to work with.
What licenses are available?
We have 3 licenses available:
Cloud for conversion using the shared IDRsolutions cloud server, Self hosted server option for your own cloud or on-premise servers, and Enterprise for more demanding requirements.
How to use BuildVu?
Want to learn more about BuildVu and how to use it, we have plenty of tutorials and guides to help you.
