Release date: December 31, 2017
This is version 1.12.2 of PyMuPDF (formerly python-fitz), a Python binding which supports MuPDF 1.12 - "a lightweight PDF and XPS viewer".
MuPDF can access files in PDF, XPS, OpenXPS, CBZ, EPUB and FB2 (e-books) formats, and it is known for its top performance and high rendering quality.
With PyMuPDF you therefore can also access files with extensions *.pdf, *.xps, *.oxps, *.cbz, *.fb2 or *.epub from your Python scripts.
See the Wiki for more information, news, release notes and usage recipies.
If you had not previously installed MuPDF, you must first do this (however, see the MS Windows section further down). This process very much depends on your system. For most platforms, the MuPDF source contains prepared procedures on how to achieve this.
If you decide to generate MuPDF from sources (definitely the safest and cleanest way for all platforms except MS Windows), be sure to download the official release from here. Although MuPDF also has a GitHub repo, this contains their current development source, which usually is incompatible with this PyMuPDF.
Once this is done, adjust directories in setup.py and the rest should be as easy as running python setup.py install.
Refer to our documentation for additional comments.
AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/python2-pymupdf/ currently only provides PyMuPDF version 1.9.2 for Python 2.
The required MuPDF version in the official Ubuntu repositories is often not timely available, so you do need to build it from source. Make sure to add -fPIC to CFLAGS when compiling.
When MuPDF is ready, edit setup.py in PyMuPDF and comment out the line of library_dirs=[] to specify the directory which contains libmupdf.a and other 3rd party libraries. Remove crypto from libraries in setup.py if it complains. One of our users (thanks to @gileadslostson) has documented his MuPDF installation experience from sources in this Wiki page.
First, install the MuPDF headers and libraries, which are provided by mupdf-tools: brew install mupdf-tools.
Then you might need to export ARCHFLAGS='-arch x86_64', since libmupdf.a is for x86_64 only.
Finally, please double check setup.py before building. Update include_dirs and library_dirs if necessary.
The lucky Windows user can now just issue pip install PyMuPDF [--upgrade] and is done in no more time than a 3 MB download takes. This requires nothing else - no MuPDF, no Visual Studio, ... whatsoever.
If you don't use pip or PyPI, you can still download pre-generated binaries or Python wheels that are suitable for your Python / Windows combination. This, too, avoids any other downloads or compilation hassle. Again, make sure to consult our documentation.
If you do want to make your own binary however, have a look at this Wiki page. It explains how to use Visual Studio for generating MuPDF in quite some detail. Also do not hesitate to contact us if you need help.
Have a look at the basic demos, the examples (which contain complete, working programs), and the recipies section of our Wiki sidebar.
You have a number of options to access the documentation:
- You can view it online at Read the Docs.
- You can download a zipped HTML version.
- You can download a Windows CHM.
- You can download a PDF.
The new PyPI Warehouse no longer supports storing or maintaining documentation at https://pythonhosted.org. Everything there is hence becoming stale since many months. Their plans even include to drop this facility entirely once the new PyPI is fully in production. Projects should instead use https://readthedocs.org.
Because our latest documentation update on pythonhosted.org was from June 2017, we have decided to shift gears immediately: you will now find PyMuPDF's (always current) online documentation on Read the Docs as indicated above. Please ignore the old site pythonhosted.org to avoid confusion.
Recommendation: do not try to download documentation from Read the Docs - instead, follow the links above.
PyMuPDF is distributed under GNU GPL V3. The implied use of MuPDF also implies its license GNU AFFERO GPL V3. A copy of both licenses are included in this repository.
You can also find us on the Python Package Index PyPI.
Please note, that the project description there may be less up-to-date than the one you are currently looking at. This is because information on PyPI, once stored, cannot be changed. Previously, this has been true only for the downloadable files, but since PyPI Warehouse, it obviously applies to all data of a full release.
We invite you to join our efforts by contributing to the Wiki pages.
Please submit comments or issues here, or directly contact the authors.