SimpleTinyPDF 0.52.0

SimpleTinyPDF

An extremely small, zero-dependency PDF generation library for .NET.

SimpleTinyPDF lets you create PDF documents from C# with no external packages. It targets .NET Standard 2.0, so it works with .NET Framework 4.6.1+, .NET Core 2.0+, and .NET 5+. You add pages, draw text, images, shapes, and tables, etc then save. There is no DOM, no layout engine, and no markup language — you position everything in points.

Features

• Text — single-line, wrapped text boxes, rich text with mixed fonts/sizes/colors, alignment (left, center, right), underline, hyperlinks, opacity
• Images — JPEG and PNG (with transparency), EXIF auto-orientation, scaling modes (Stretch, Fit, Fill), opacity
• Tables — styled headers, column alignment, alternate row shading, auto-pagination with repeated headers, CSV import
• Lists — bullet, numbered, lowercase Roman (i, ii, iii…), and uppercase Roman (I, II, III…); unlimited nesting with per-level style overrides and custom bullet symbols; automatic text wrapping and multi-page flow
• Shapes — lines, rectangles (stroke and/or fill)
• Rotation — rotate any text, image, or shape element by an arbitrary angle
• Bookmarks — hierarchical outline / table of contents
• Fonts — 14 standard PDF Type 1 fonts (Helvetica, Times, Courier, Symbol, ZapfDingbats) with extended European character support
• Colors — RGB, CMYK, and grayscale
• Page sizes — A3, A4, A5, Letter, Legal, custom dimensions, landscape
• Coordinates — top-down (default) or native PDF bottom-up
• Metadata — document title and author
• Zero dependencies — no NuGet packages, no native libraries

Pros and Cons

Use SimpleTinyPDF when you want to:

• Generate invoices, reports, receipts, or labels from code
• Avoid pulling in a large dependency tree for simple PDF output
• Run in constrained environments (Azure Functions, Docker, CI pipelines) without native libraries
• Ship a self-contained app with no runtime font or image dependencies

Look elsewhere if you need:

• HTML-to-PDF conversion
• Fonts beyond the 14 standard PDF fonts (no TrueType/OpenType embedding)
• Full Unicode or CJK character support
• Form fields or annotations
• PDF reading, parsing, or editing
• Encryption or digital signatures
• Automatic page layout (headers/footers, page numbers, flowing columns)

Size Comparison

One of SimpleTinyPDF's goals is to stay tiny. Here's how it compares to other popular .NET PDF libraries:

IronPDF's footprint includes the Chromium rendering engine downloaded at build/runtime. QuestPDF bundles custom Skia native binaries for cross-platform rendering.

API Reference

PdfDocument

The main entry point. Create one, add pages, then save.

var doc = new PdfDocument();
doc.Title = "My Report";
doc.Author = "Jane Doe";

var page = doc.AddPage();                         // A4 by default
var page2 = doc.AddPage(PageSize.Letter);         // US Letter
var page3 = doc.AddPage(PageSize.A4.Landscape()); // A4 landscape
var cover = doc.InsertPage(1);                    // insert at position 1

doc.Save("output.pdf");       // save to file
doc.Save(stream);             // write to stream
byte[] bytes = doc.ToArray(); // get as byte array

PdfPage

All drawing happens on a page. Coordinates are in points. By default the coordinate system is top-down (Y=0 is the top of the page). Set CoordinateOrigin to use native PDF bottom-up coordinates instead.

// Default: Y=0 at top, Y increases downward
page.CoordinateOrigin = CoordinateOrigin.TopDown;

// Native PDF: Y=0 at bottom, Y increases upward
page.CoordinateOrigin = CoordinateOrigin.BottomUp;

In BottomUp mode, Y values map directly to PDF coordinates: text Y is the baseline, and rectangle/image Y is the bottom-left corner. Tables (DrawTable) always use top-down layout internally.

Text

page.DrawText("Hello", 50, 50);
page.DrawText("Bold red", 50, 70, PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 14, PdfColor.Red, TextAlignment.Left, underline: true);

// Hyperlink — text becomes clickable
page.DrawText("Visit Example", 50, 90, PdfFont.Helvetica, 12, PdfColor.Blue,
    underline: true, link: "https://example.com");

// Wrapped text box — returns Y position after last line
float nextY = page.DrawTextBox("Long paragraph...", 50, 110, width: 400,
    font: PdfFont.TimesRoman, fontSize: 11, lineSpacing: 1.4f);

// Wrapped text box with hyperlink (each wrapped line is clickable)
float nextY1 = page.DrawTextBox("Click here for full terms and conditions", 50, 160, width: 200,
    link: "https://example.com/terms");

// Rich text (mixed fonts/sizes/colors on one line)
page.DrawRichText(new[] {
    new TextSpan("Normal "),
    new TextSpan("bold", PdfFont.HelveticaBold),
    new TextSpan(" and ", PdfFont.Helvetica, 12, PdfColor.DarkGray),
    new TextSpan("red", PdfFont.Helvetica, 12, PdfColor.Red, underline: true)
}, 50, 200);

// Rich text with hyperlinks — individual spans can be links
page.DrawRichText(new[] {
    new TextSpan("See "),
    new TextSpan("our docs", PdfFont.Helvetica, 12, PdfColor.Blue,
        underline: true, link: "https://docs.example.com"),
    new TextSpan(" for details.")
}, 50, 220);

// Rich text box (mixed formatting with word wrap)
float nextY2 = page.DrawRichTextBox(spans, 50, 240, width: 400);

// Measure text width
float w = page.MeasureText("Hello", PdfFont.Helvetica, 12);

// Rotated text — angle in degrees, clockwise
page.DrawText("Rotated 45°", 300, 100, fontSize: 16, rotation: 45);
page.DrawTextBox("Rotated text box", 300, 200, width: 150, rotation: 90);

TextSpan is used with DrawRichText and DrawRichTextBox for mixed-format text:

new TextSpan("hello")                                          // defaults: Helvetica 12pt black
new TextSpan("bold", PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 14)                // custom font/size
new TextSpan("fancy", PdfFont.TimesItalic, 12, PdfColor.Blue, underline: true, opacity: 0.8f)
new TextSpan("click me", PdfFont.Helvetica, 12, PdfColor.Blue, underline: true,
    link: "https://example.com")                               // hyperlink

TextAlignment: TextAlignment.Left (default), TextAlignment.Center, TextAlignment.Right

Shapes

page.DrawLine(50, 100, 500, 100, PdfColor.Black, lineWidth: 0.5f);
page.DrawRectangle(50, 110, 200, 80, PdfColor.DarkGray, lineWidth: 1f);
page.DrawFilledRectangle(50, 200, 200, 80, PdfColor.Rgb(230, 240, 255), PdfColor.Black, lineWidth: 0.5f);

// Rotated shapes — angle in degrees, clockwise
page.DrawFilledRectangle(300, 100, 80, 40, PdfColor.Blue, rotation: 45);
page.DrawRectangle(300, 200, 80, 80, PdfColor.Green, lineWidth: 2, rotation: 30);
page.DrawLine(100, 300, 300, 300, PdfColor.Red, lineWidth: 2, rotation: 90);

Images

var logo = PdfImage.FromFile("logo.png");
page.DrawImage(logo, x: 50, y: 30, width: 120, height: 40);
page.DrawImage(logo, x: 50, y: 30, width: 120, height: 40, opacity: 0.5f);
page.DrawImage(logo, x: 50, y: 30, width: 120, height: 40, scaleMode: ImageScaleMode.Fit);

// Rotated image — angle in degrees, clockwise
page.DrawImage(logo, x: 200, y: 100, width: 120, height: 40, rotation: 90);

JPEG and PNG are supported (auto-detected). PNG transparency is preserved. EXIF orientation tags are automatically applied.

The scaleMode parameter controls how the image is scaled to fit the target rectangle:

Rotation

All drawing methods (DrawText, DrawRichText, DrawTextBox, DrawRichTextBox, DrawImage, DrawLine, DrawRectangle, DrawFilledRectangle) accept an optional rotation parameter:

• Angle is in degrees, clockwise (matching CSS convention)
• Origin is the element's (x, y) position
• Default is 0 (no rotation)

// Watermark-style diagonal text
page.DrawText("DRAFT", 300, 400, PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 72,
    PdfColor.Rgb(200, 200, 200), TextAlignment.Center, opacity: 0.3f, rotation: -45);

Tables

float endY = page.DrawTable(table, x: 50, y: 200, bottomMargin: 50);

Tables that exceed the page height automatically continue on new pages with repeated headers. By default, continuation pages start the table at the same Y position as the first page. Use continuationY to start higher on subsequent pages:

// Table starts at y=300 on page 1, but at y=50 on continuation pages
page.DrawTable(table, x: 50, y: 300, continuationY: 50);

Lists

DrawList renders a hierarchical list and returns a (PdfPage page, float y) tuple indicating where rendering ended, so you can continue drawing below it — including on a different page if the list overflowed.

var items = new[]
{
    new ListItem("Introduction"),
    new ListItem("Installation",
        new ListItem("Windows"),
        new ListItem("macOS"),
        new ListItem("Linux")),
    new ListItem("Configuration")
};

// Bullet list (default)
var (nextPage, nextY) = page.DrawList(items, x: 50, y: 100, width: 450);

// Numbered list
var (nextPage, nextY) = page.DrawList(items, x: 50, y: 100, width: 450,
    style: ListStyle.Numbered);

// Lowercase Roman numerals (i, ii, iii…)
var (nextPage, nextY) = page.DrawList(items, x: 50, y: 100, width: 450,
    style: ListStyle.RomanLower);

// Uppercase Roman numerals (I, II, III…)
var (nextPage, nextY) = page.DrawList(items, x: 50, y: 100, width: 450,
    style: ListStyle.RomanUpper);

// Multi-page list — automatically flows to new pages
var (lastPage, endY) = page.DrawList(items, x: 50, y: 100, width: 450,
    bottomMargin: 50, continuationY: 50);

Each item can override the style and bullet symbol used for its children:

var items = new[]
{
    // Children use numbered style
    new ListItem("Chapter 1", ListStyle.Numbered,
        new ListItem("Section 1.1"),
        new ListItem("Section 1.2")),

    // Children use Roman numerals with a custom bullet symbol at the next level
    new ListItem("Chapter 2", ListStyle.RomanUpper,
        new ListItem("Part I", ListStyle.RomanLower,
            new ListItem("Sub-part a"))),
};

To use a custom bullet symbol from Symbol or ZapfDingbats, pass a TextSpan as the bullet:

// Custom top-level bullet
var (nextPage, nextY) = page.DrawList(items, x: 50, y: 100, width: 450,
    bullet: new TextSpan("»", PdfFont.Helvetica));

// Per-level custom symbols via ChildrenBullet
new ListItem("Top item", ListStyle.Bullet, new TextSpan("‣", PdfFont.Helvetica),
    new ListItem("Child item"))

PdfTable

Build tables with a fluent API or import from CSV.

var table = new PdfTable(100, 200, 100, 100)  // column widths in points
    .SetHeaders("ID", "Description", "Qty", "Price")
    .AddRow("1001", "Widget", "5", "$12.50")
    .AddRow("1002", "Gadget", "2", "$24.00");

table.SetColumnAlignment(2, TextAlignment.Right);
table.SetColumnAlignment(3, TextAlignment.Right);
table.AlternateRowShading = true;

CSV import:

var table = PdfTable.FromCsv("data.csv");
var table = PdfTable.FromCsv("data.csv", firstRowIsHeader: true, delimiter: ',',
    columnWidths: new float[] { 80, 200, 80, 80 });
var table = PdfTable.FromCsvString(csvContent, totalWidth: 500);

PdfImage

var img = PdfImage.FromFile("photo.jpg");
var img = PdfImage.FromBytes(byteArray);
var img = PdfImage.FromStream(stream);

int w = img.PixelWidth;   // display width (EXIF-adjusted)
int h = img.PixelHeight;  // display height (EXIF-adjusted)

PdfColor

var c1 = PdfColor.Rgb(51, 102, 204);        // 0-255 integers
var c2 = PdfColor.Rgb(0.2f, 0.4f, 0.8f);    // 0.0-1.0 floats
var c3 = PdfColor.Cmyk(1f, 0f, 0f, 0f);     // CMYK
var c4 = PdfColor.Gray(0.5f);               // grayscale

Predefined colors:

PageSize

Predefined: PageSize.A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal

var landscape = PageSize.A4.Landscape();
var custom = new PageSize(400, 600);  // width x height in points

Bookmarks

Add bookmarks (outlines) that appear in the PDF viewer's navigation panel. Bookmarks can be nested to create a hierarchical table of contents.

// Top-level bookmarks
var ch1 = doc.AddBookmark("Chapter 1", page1);
var ch2 = doc.AddBookmark("Chapter 2", page2);

// Nested bookmarks — point to a specific Y position on the page
ch1.AddBookmark("Installation", page1, y: 150);
ch1.AddBookmark("Configuration", page1, y: 350);

// Deeper nesting
var advanced = ch2.AddBookmark("Advanced Topics", page3);
advanced.AddBookmark("Performance Tuning", page3, y: 200);

When y is omitted the bookmark fits the entire page. When y is provided the viewer scrolls to that vertical position (in the page's coordinate system).

Example: Invoice with Company Logo

using SimpleTinyPDF;

var doc = new PdfDocument { Title = "Invoice #1042" };
var page = doc.AddPage(PageSize.Letter);

// Company logo
var logo = PdfImage.FromFile("company-logo.png");
page.DrawImage(logo, 50, 40, 150, 50);

// Company info (right-aligned)
page.DrawText("Acme Corp", 562, 40, PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 14, alignment: TextAlignment.Right);
page.DrawText("123 Main Street, Springfield", 562, 58, PdfFont.Helvetica, 9,
    PdfColor.DarkGray, TextAlignment.Right);
page.DrawText("Tel: (555) 123-4567", 562, 70, PdfFont.Helvetica, 9,
    PdfColor.DarkGray, TextAlignment.Right);

// Divider
page.DrawLine(50, 100, 562, 100, PdfColor.LightGray, 1f);

// Invoice title
page.DrawText("INVOICE", 50, 120, PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 24, PdfColor.Rgb(51, 51, 51));

// Invoice details
page.DrawText("Invoice #: 1042", 50, 160, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10);
page.DrawText("Date: April 16, 2026", 50, 175, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10);
page.DrawText("Due: May 16, 2026", 50, 190, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10);

// Bill to
page.DrawText("Bill To:", 350, 160, PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 10);
page.DrawText("John Smith", 350, 175, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10);
page.DrawText("456 Oak Avenue", 350, 190, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10);
page.DrawText("Shelbyville, IL 62565", 350, 205, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10);

// Line items table
var table = new PdfTable(240, 80, 80, 112)
    .SetHeaders("Description", "Quantity", "Unit Price", "Amount")
    .AddRow("Web Development Services", "40 hrs", "$75.00", "$3,000.00")
    .AddRow("UI/UX Design", "16 hrs", "$85.00", "$1,360.00")
    .AddRow("Hosting Setup", "1", "$200.00", "$200.00");

table.SetColumnAlignment(1, TextAlignment.Center);
table.SetColumnAlignment(2, TextAlignment.Right);
table.SetColumnAlignment(3, TextAlignment.Right);
table.HeaderBackground = PdfColor.Rgb(51, 51, 51);
table.HeaderTextColor = PdfColor.White;
table.AlternateRowShading = true;

float tableEndY = page.DrawTable(table, 50, 240);

// Totals
float totalsX = 370;
float totalsY = tableEndY + 15;
page.DrawText("Subtotal:", totalsX, totalsY, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10);
page.DrawText("$4,560.00", 562, totalsY, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10, alignment: TextAlignment.Right);
page.DrawText("Tax (8%):", totalsX, totalsY + 18, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10);
page.DrawText("$364.80", 562, totalsY + 18, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10, alignment: TextAlignment.Right);
page.DrawLine(totalsX, totalsY + 34, 562, totalsY + 34, PdfColor.Black, 0.5f);
page.DrawText("Total Due:", totalsX, totalsY + 42, PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 12);
page.DrawText("$4,924.80", 562, totalsY + 42, PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 12, alignment: TextAlignment.Right);

// Footer note
page.DrawText("Payment is due within 30 days. Thank you for your business!",
    306, 720, PdfFont.HelveticaOblique, 9, PdfColor.DarkGray, TextAlignment.Center);

doc.Save("invoice-1042.pdf");

Example: CSV to Table Report

using SimpleTinyPDF;

// Suppose "sales-data.csv" contains:
//   Region,Product,Q1,Q2,Q3,Q4
//   North,Widgets,1200,1350,1100,1500
//   South,Widgets,980,1050,1200,1180
//   ...

var doc = new PdfDocument { Title = "Quarterly Sales Report" };
var page = doc.AddPage(PageSize.Letter.Landscape());

// Report header
page.DrawText("Quarterly Sales Report", 50, 40, PdfFont.HelveticaBold, 20);
page.DrawText("Generated: April 16, 2026", 50, 65, PdfFont.Helvetica, 10, PdfColor.DarkGray);
page.DrawLine(50, 85, 742, 85, PdfColor.LightGray, 1f);

// Import CSV directly into a table
var table = PdfTable.FromCsv("sales-data.csv",
    firstRowIsHeader: true,
    columnWidths: new float[] { 100, 120, 90, 90, 90, 90 });

// Style it
table.HeaderBackground = PdfColor.Rgb(0, 51, 102);
table.HeaderTextColor = PdfColor.White;
table.HeaderFont = PdfFont.HelveticaBold;
table.HeaderFontSize = 11;
table.CellFont = PdfFont.Helvetica;
table.CellFontSize = 10;
table.AlternateRowShading = true;
table.AlternateRowColor = PdfColor.Rgb(235, 241, 250);
table.CellPadding = 6;

// Right-align the numeric columns
table.SetColumnAlignment(2, TextAlignment.Right);
table.SetColumnAlignment(3, TextAlignment.Right);
table.SetColumnAlignment(4, TextAlignment.Right);
table.SetColumnAlignment(5, TextAlignment.Right);

// Draw — if the data has many rows, it will automatically
// continue on new pages with the header row repeated.
// Use continuationY to start the table higher on subsequent pages.
page.DrawTable(table, 50, 100, bottomMargin: 50, continuationY: 50);

doc.Save("sales-report.pdf");

Font Limitations

SimpleTinyPDF uses the 14 standard PDF Type 1 fonts. These fonts are built into every PDF viewer and require no embedding, which keeps the library simple and output files small.

Available font families:

Character support:

• Full WinAnsiEncoding coverage (standard Latin characters, digits, punctuation)
• Extended European characters including Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian diacritics (e.g. ą, ć, ę, ł, ň, ř, š, ž, ő, ű)
• Characters not in the supported set are replaced with a fallback; they will not cause an error but may not render as expected

What is not supported:

• Custom font embedding (TrueType, OpenType, WOFF)
• CJK characters (Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
• Arabic, Hebrew, or other right-to-left scripts
• Emoji

If your project requires custom fonts or broad Unicode support, consider a full-featured PDF library such as QuestPDF, iTextSharp, or PdfSharp.

Version History

Development Notes

This library was written as an exploration of what my increasingly good friend Claude could acomplish. I continue to be amazed at what generative AI can do.

Sample image assets in the tests project are taken from https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/

License

MIT