Unchained.Pdf.Rendering 0.1.0-rc.4

Unchained.Pdf.Rendering

PDF page rasterization for .NET — render any PDF page to a PNG image with hardware-accurate font shaping. Supports all platforms out of the box.

Targets: net8.0 · net9.0 · net10.0
License: MIT

Installation

<PackageReference Include="Unchained.Pdf.Rendering" Version="0.1.0" />

This single package reference pulls everything needed:

• Unchained.Pdf — the core PDF engine
• FreeTypeSharp — FreeType2 bindings + native binaries (Windows, macOS, linux-x64)
• Unchained.Drawing.Runtimes — the FreeType2 binary for linux-arm64 (the one platform FreeTypeSharp omits)
• HarfBuzzSharp — text shaping native assets for your platform

No additional setup required on any supported platform.

Usage

using Unchained.Pdf.Engine;
using Unchained.Pdf.Rendering.Engine;

var processor = new DocumentProcessor();
var renderer  = new PdfRenderer();

await using var doc = await processor.LoadAsync("document.pdf");

// Render a single page
byte[] png = await renderer.RenderPageAsync(doc.Pages[1], new RenderOptions(Dpi: 150));
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync("page1.png", png);

// Render all pages
IReadOnlyList<byte[]> pages = await renderer.RenderDocumentAsync(doc, new RenderOptions(Dpi: 72));
for (int i = 0; i < pages.Count; i++)
    await File.WriteAllBytesAsync($"page{i + 1}.png", pages[i]);

// With cancellation
using var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30));
var pagesWithCancel = await renderer.RenderDocumentAsync(doc, new RenderOptions(), cts.Token);

RenderOptions

// 72 DPI — screen preview quality
new RenderOptions(Dpi: 72)

// 150 DPI — general purpose
new RenderOptions(Dpi: 150)

// 300 DPI — print quality
new RenderOptions(Dpi: 300)

Check FreeType availability

if (!PdfRenderer.FreeTypeAvailable)
{
    Console.WriteLine("FreeType2 native library not found — rendering skipped.");
    return;
}

Rendering capabilities

Platform support

The native FreeType2 binary is automatically selected and deployed for your platform:

Bundled fonts

Standard 14 PDF fonts are substituted with embedded open-licensed typefaces:

Embedded PDF fonts (Type1, TrueType, CFF) are loaded and rendered directly with full fidelity.

License

MIT. All bundled components (FreeType2 FTL, HarfBuzz MIT, DejaVu/NotoSans SIL OFL) are permissive-licensed and safe for commercial use.

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