lazypdf

Simple PDF manipulation and conversion for Python. Read a PDF, transform it, export to another format. That's it.

No complex pipelines, no bloated abstractions — just a clean, fluent API to merge, split, compress, watermark, convert, and more.

Install

pip install lazypdf

Optional extras:

pip install lazypdf[ocr]       # OCR support (pytesseract + Pillow)
pip install lazypdf[office]    # DOCX/XLSX/PPTX export (python-docx, openpyxl, python-pptx)
pip install lazypdf[tables]    # Table extraction (pdfplumber)
pip install lazypdf[html]      # HTML to PDF via WeasyPrint engine
pip install lazypdf[browser]   # HTML to PDF via Playwright engine (Chromium)
pip install lazypdf[repair]    # PDF repair via pikepdf engine
pip install lazypdf[msoffice]  # MS Office COM automation on Windows (pywin32)
pip install lazypdf[all]       # Everything

Quick Start

import lazypdf as lz

# Read -> Transform -> Export
lz.read("input.pdf").rotate(90).compress().to_pdf("output.pdf")

# Merge multiple PDFs
lz.merge("file1.pdf", "file2.pdf", "file3.pdf").to_pdf("merged.pdf")

# Convert images to PDF
lz.read_images("scan1.jpg", "scan2.jpg").to_pdf("scans.pdf")

# Read Office documents (requires MS Office or LibreOffice)
lz.read_docx("report.docx").add_watermark("DRAFT").to_pdf("draft.pdf")
lz.read_xlsx("data.xlsx").to_png("output/")
lz.read_pptx("slides.pptx").extract_pages([1, 3]).to_pdf("summary.pdf")

# Extract specific pages
lz.read("big.pdf").extract_pages([1, 3, 5]).to_pdf("selected.pdf")

# Add watermark and page numbers
(
    lz.read("report.pdf")
    .add_watermark("CONFIDENTIAL", opacity=0.2)
    .add_page_numbers(position="bottom-center")
    .to_pdf("final.pdf")
)

# Export to images
lz.read("slides.pdf").to_png("output_dir/", dpi=300)

# Extract text
text = lz.read("document.pdf").extract_text()

# Encrypt / decrypt
lz.read("doc.pdf").encrypt("password").to_pdf("protected.pdf")
lz.read("protected.pdf").decrypt("password").to_pdf("unlocked.pdf")

# Redact sensitive text (case-sensitive, exact match)
lz.read("doc.pdf").redact("SECRET-123").to_pdf("redacted.pdf")

# Split into individual pages
lz.read("doc.pdf").split("output_dir/", every=1)

# Chain anything
(
    lz.read("input.pdf")
    .merge("extra.pdf")
    .remove_pages([2, 4])
    .rotate(90, pages=[1])
    .crop(left=50, right=50)
    .add_watermark("DRAFT")
    .compress()
    .to_pdf("result.pdf")
)

API Reference

Entry Points

Function	Description	Dependency
lz.read(path)	Read a PDF file	pymupdf
lz.read_pdf(path)	Alias for read()	pymupdf
lz.merge(*paths)	Merge multiple PDFs	pymupdf
lz.read_images(*paths, page_size=)	Create PDF from images (default: "fit")	pymupdf
lz.read_jpg(*paths, page_size=)	Create PDF from JPEGs	pymupdf
lz.read_png(*paths, page_size=)	Create PDF from PNGs	pymupdf
lz.read_html(path_or_url, engine=)	Create PDF from HTML (default: "pymupdf")	pymupdf
lz.read_docx(path)	Read Word document	MS Office / LibreOffice
lz.read_xlsx(path)	Read Excel spreadsheet	MS Office / LibreOffice
lz.read_pptx(path)	Read PowerPoint presentation	MS Office / LibreOffice
lz.read_csv(path)	Read CSV file	MS Office / LibreOffice
lz.from_bytes(data)	Create PDF from raw bytes	pymupdf

Chainable Operations

Method	Description
.merge(*others)	Append more PDFs (paths, objects, or lists)
.rotate(degrees, pages=)	Rotate pages (multiple of 90)
.crop(left=, top=, right=, bottom=, pages=)	Crop page margins (in points)
.compress(img_quality=, compression_level=)	Reduce file size (deflate compression, dedup objects)
.add_watermark(text, ...)	Add text watermark
.add_image_watermark(path, ...)	Add image watermark (with opacity)
.add_page_numbers(...)	Insert page numbers
.resize(size, pages=)	Resize pages to standard paper size (a4, letter, etc.)
.flatten(dpi=, pages=)	Rasterize pages (burns annotations/forms into flat image)
.extract_pages(pages)	Keep only specified pages
.remove_pages(pages)	Remove specified pages
.reorder(order)	Reorder/duplicate pages
.reverse()	Reverse page order
.encrypt(password, algorithm=)	Add password protection (default: AES-256-R5)
.decrypt(password)	Remove password protection
.redact(text)	Black out text permanently
.repair(engine=)	Fix corrupted PDFs (default: "auto")
.ocr(language=)	Make scanned pages searchable
.copy()	Create independent copy

All page parameters are 1-indexed (first page = 1).

Export (Terminal Operations)

Method	Returns
.to_pdf(path)	str (output path)
.to_jpg(output_dir)	list[str] (image paths)
.to_png(output_dir)	list[str] (image paths)
.to_images(output_dir, fmt=)	list[str] (image paths)
.to_docx(path)	str (output path)
.to_xlsx(path)	str (output path)
.to_pdfa(path, level=, engine=)	str (output path, default: "pymupdf")
.to_bytes()	bytes
.split(output_dir, every=)	list[str] (PDF paths)
.split_at(output_dir, at=)	list[str] (PDF paths)

Extraction & Info

Method / Property	Returns
.extract_text(pages=, engine=, page_separator=)	str
.extract_tables(pages=, flavor=)	list[list[list[str]]]
.extract_images(output_dir, pages=)	list[str] (image paths)
.metadata	dict
.page_count	int
.page_sizes()	list[tuple[float, float]]

Limitations

• Office reads (read_docx, read_xlsx, read_pptx, read_csv) require either Microsoft Office (Windows, auto-detected) or LibreOffice (any OS, must be on PATH). No pure-Python solution exists for reliable Office-to-PDF conversion.
• to_docx() extracts text only. Images, tables, and complex formatting are not preserved.
• to_xlsx() only exports tables found in the PDF. Requires [tables] and [office] extras.
• OCR (ocr()) requires Tesseract to be installed on the system in addition to the [ocr] pip extra.
• read_html() defaults to PyMuPDF Story engine (basic CSS). For better rendering, use engine="weasyprint" (requires GTK) or engine="playwright" (requires Chromium).
• Redaction (redact()) is case-sensitive exact text match. Save the result with to_pdf() to persist.
• PDF/A (to_pdfa()) defaults to PyMuPDF engine which may not pass strict validators. Use engine="ghostscript" for full compliance (requires Ghostscript binary).
• Flatten (flatten()) rasterizes pages to images — text becomes non-searchable. Default DPI is 72; use higher values for better quality.
• Image watermark (add_image_watermark()) requires Pillow (included in [ocr] extra).

License

BSD-3-Clause