The Ghostscript family of products

May 13, 2026 · View on GitHub

GhostPDL contains the complete Artifex document processing suite: a unified package of interpreters and a shared graphics library for rendering, converting, and manipulating documents across every major page description language and many image formats.

It includes Ghostscript (PostScript/PDF), GhostPDF, GhostPCL (PCL/PXL), GhostXPS (XPS) and GhostPDL as a single source tree.

What's in this repository
Getting pre-built binaries
Requirements
Quick start
Key capabilities
Command-line examples
Language bindings
Building from source
Documentation
License
WHAT'S IN THIS REPOSITORY

GhostPDL is the umbrella source distribution for the entire Ghostscript family of products. Each interpreter is built on the same shared Ghostscript graphics library and can be compiled individually or together.

Ghostscript PostScript Level 3 and PDF interpreter and renderer GhostPDF Standalone C-based PDF interpreter (default since 9.55) GhostPCL PCL5 and PCL/XL (PXL) interpreter GhostXPS XPS (XML Paper Specification) interpreter GhostPDL Multi-language framework; auto-detects PS, PDF, PCL, XPS, and image formats

When running as GhostPDL, the interpreter automatically detects the input language using file signatures and heuristics — no flag is required for mixed-language job streams. PJL (Printer Job Language) framing is also supported for separating jobs.

GETTING PRE-BUILT BINARIES

For most users, pre-built binaries are the fastest way to get started. Source compilation is only needed when embedding Ghostscript as a library or customising the build.

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt-get install ghostscript

macOS (MacPorts):

sudo port install ghostscript

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install ghostscript

Windows:

Download the installer from:
https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl-downloads/releases

Both 32-bit and 64-bit command-line executables are provided.

Verify the installation:

gs --version

or on Windows:

gswin64c --version

3. REQUIREMENTS

Runtime:

OS Linux, macOS, Windows, BSD, and other Unix-like platforms Architecture x86, x86-64, ARM, and others (platform-dependent builds)

Build dependencies (source compilation only):

C compiler GCC, Clang, or MSVC (Visual Studio 2015 or later) make / nmake GNU make on Unix; nmake via Visual Studio on Windows autoconf Required when building from a git checkout (run autogen.sh) FreeType Bundled in freetype/; external version also accepted libjpeg, zlib, libpng Bundled or system-provided libtiff Optional; required for TIFF output OpenJPEG Optional; required for JPEG 2000 support

Note: The PCL/XL fonts in pcl/urwfonts/ are required for GhostPCL to function and are distributed under the AFPL licence, which prohibits commercial use. They are not free software. See pcl/COPYING.AFPL in the source distribution for details.

QUICK START

Convert a PDF to PNG images (one per page):

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=png16m -r300 \
   -sOutputFile=page_%03d.png input.pdf

-dBATCH -dNOPAUSE       Run non-interactively and exit when done
-sDEVICE=png16m          24-bit color PNG output device
-r300                    300 DPI output resolution
-sOutputFile=page_%03d.png  Numbered output files

Convert PostScript to PDF:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
   -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.ps

Or use the convenience wrapper:

ps2pdf input.ps output.pdf

Convert a PDF to a single JPEG:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dFirstPage=1 -dLastPage=1 \
   -sDEVICE=jpeg -r150 -sOutputFile=page1.jpg input.pdf

5. KEY CAPABILITIES

PostScript Full PostScript Language Level 3 interpreter PDF Read and render PDF 1.0-2.0; write PDF via pdfwrite device (9.55+: new C-based interpreter) PCL / PXL PCL5 and PCL/XL (HP printer language) via GhostPCL XPS XML Paper Specification via GhostXPS Image formats Input: JPEG (JFIF/EXIF), PNG, TIFF, JBIG2, JPEG 2000, PWG. Output: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PBM/PGM/PPM, and more Rasterisation Render to raster at any DPI; anti-aliasing control PDF output Convert PostScript, PCL, XPS, and images to PDF; compress and optimise existing PDFs PostScript output Convert PDF back to PostScript Level 2 N-up imposition Impose multiple pages onto one sheet; works across all input types OCR Convert scanned raster images to searchable PDF (since 9.53) PDF compression Reduce PDF file size without quality loss Language detection GhostPDL automatically identifies input language PJL support Printer Job Language framing for job separation Embeddable library Link libgs as a shared/static library; gsapi C interface with Python, Java, and C# bindings Color management ICC profile support; CMYK, RGB, Gray, DeviceN Font support Type 1, TrueType, OpenType, CFF; font substitution and embedding

COMMAND-LINE EXAMPLES

Render a specific page range:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=png16m -r150 \
   -dFirstPage=2 -dLastPage=5 \
   -sOutputFile=page_%d.png input.pdf

Render in greyscale:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pnggray -r300 \
   -sOutputFile=page_%03d.png input.pdf

Compress / optimise a PDF:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
   -dCompatibilityLevel=1.5 -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook \
   -sOutputFile=compressed.pdf input.pdf

-dPDFSETTINGS options:
  /screen    72 dpi
  /ebook     150 dpi
  /printer   300 dpi
  /prepress  300 dpi, color-preserving
  /default

Convert a password-protected PDF:

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
   -sPDFPassword=secret -sOutputFile=unlocked.pdf input.pdf

Convert XPS to PDF (GhostXPS):

gxps -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
     -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.xps

Convert PCL to PDF (GhostPCL):

gpcl6 -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
      -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pcl

Get help and list available devices:

gs -h

7. LANGUAGE BINDINGS

The gsapi C interface exposes the full Ghostscript engine as an embeddable library. Official bindings are included in the repository under demos/.

C psi/iapi.h gsapi_new_instance, gsapi_init_with_args, gsapi_exit Python demos/python/gsapi.py gsapi_new_instance(), gsapi_run_file() Java demos/java/ GSAPI, GSInstance C# demos/csharp/ GhostAPI.ghostapi (static methods)

Python example:

import gsapi

instance = gsapi.gsapi_new_instance(0)
gsapi.gsapi_set_arg_encoding(instance, gsapi.GS_ARG_ENCODING_UTF8)
gsapi.gsapi_init_with_args(instance, [
    "gs",
    "-dBATCH", "-dNOPAUSE",
    "-sDEVICE=pdfwrite",
    "-sOutputFile=output.pdf",
    "input.ps"
])
gsapi.gsapi_exit(instance)
gsapi.gsapi_delete_instance(instance)

C# example:

using GhostAPI;

IntPtr instance;
ghostapi.gsapi_new_instance(out instance, IntPtr.Zero);
ghostapi.gsapi_set_arg_encoding(instance,
    (int)gsEncoding.GS_ARG_ENCODING_UTF8);

string[] args = { "gs", "-dBATCH", "-dNOPAUSE",
                  "-sDEVICE=pdfwrite",
                  "-sOutputFile=output.pdf", "input.ps" };
ghostapi.gsapi_init_with_args(instance, args.Length, args);
ghostapi.gsapi_exit(instance);
ghostapi.gsapi_delete_instance(instance);

Threading note: Unless compiled with GS_THREADSAFE, only one Ghostscript instance may be active at a time.

BUILDING FROM SOURCE

Unix / Linux / macOS:

# 1. Clone the canonical repository
git clone git://git.ghostscript.com/ghostpdl.git
cd ghostpdl

# 2. Generate the configure script
#    (git checkout only; not needed for release tarballs)
./autogen.sh

# 3. Configure
./configure

# 4. Build
make

# 5. Install (optional)
sudo make install

To build as a shared library instead of an executable:

make so        # builds libgs.so / libgs.dylib

9. DOCUMENTATION

Documentation index: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io

How to use Ghostscript (command-line reference): https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Use.html

Building from source: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Make.html

GhostPDL framework: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/GPDL.html

Language bindings (C, Python, Java, C#): https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/LanguageBindings.html

Output devices: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Devices.html

PDF conversion: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/VectorDevices.html

Color management: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/GhostscriptColorManagement.html

Source code architecture: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Develop.html

Change log: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/News.html

Bug tracker: https://bugs.ghostscript.com

Discord (#ghostscript): https://artifex.com/discord/artifex

Canonical git repository: https://cgit.ghostscript.com/ghostpdl.git

Binary downloads: https://ghostscript.com/releases

Third-party library list: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/thirdparty.html

LICENSE

GhostPDL is available under two licences:

GNU AGPL v3 (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html) Free for open-source software. Any application that uses, distributes, or provides access to Ghostscript as a network service must release its complete source code under a compatible open-source licence.

Commercial licence Required for proprietary applications where AGPL compliance is not possible. Contact Artifex for licensing: https://artifex.com/contact/ghostscript

Third-party libraries A complete list of bundled third-party libraries (FreeType, libjpeg, zlib, OpenJPEG, and others), their versions, and their licences is maintained at: https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/thirdparty.html

CONTENTS

3. REQUIREMENTS

5. KEY CAPABILITIES

7. LANGUAGE BINDINGS

9. DOCUMENTATION