Convert PDF to PDF/X with the API

Convert an existing PDF to PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 for print production. Provide a publicly accessible HTTPS URL or a Base64-encoded PDF, choose an ICC profile, and receive the converted PDF or a temporary download link.

Plan availability

PDF/X conversion through the API requires the Growth plan or higher. You can try it in the Playground on any plan.

Try in Playground →

Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Successful response
POST	/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct	PDF bytes with Content-Type: application/pdf
POST	/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/sync	JSON with result metadata and a download URL when using default storage

Both endpoints wait for conversion to complete before responding.

Authentication

Use a conversion API key in the API-KEY header.

API-KEY: XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX

Find your key on the API Credentials page in your Dashboard.

Convert a PDF to PDF/X from a URL

The examples use a public sample PDF. To convert your own file, set url to its direct HTTPS URL. The code examples below convert it to PDF/X-4 using the FOGRA39 profile and save the result as print-ready.pdf.

The examples use the Direct endpoint. To receive a download URL, replace /direct with /sync and read the response as JSON. The documentUrl field contains the download URL.

Request body

{
  "url": "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf",
  "printProduction": {
    "colorSpace": "cmyk",
    "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
    "iccProfile": "fogra39",
    "preserveBlack": true
  }
}

cURL

curl --fail --show-error \
  'https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct' \
  -H 'API-KEY: XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "url": "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf",
  "printProduction": {
    "colorSpace": "cmyk",
    "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
    "iccProfile": "fogra39",
    "preserveBlack": true
  }
}' \
  -o print-ready.pdf

Node.js

Requires Node.js 18 or later.

const fs = require('fs');

async function convertPdfToPdfX() {
    const requestData = {
        url: 'https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf',
        printProduction: {
            colorSpace: 'cmyk',
            pdfStandard: 'pdf-x-4',
            iccProfile: 'fogra39',
            preserveBlack: true
        }
    };

    const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct', {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: {
            'API-KEY': 'XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX',
            'Content-Type': 'application/json'
        },
        body: JSON.stringify(requestData)
    });

    if (!response.ok) {
        const errorText = await response.text();
        throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status} - ${errorText}`);
    }

    const pdfBuffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
    fs.writeFileSync('print-ready.pdf', Buffer.from(pdfBuffer));
    console.log('PDF converted successfully');
}

convertPdfToPdfX().catch(console.error);

Python

Install requests with pip install requests.

import requests

url = "https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct"
headers = {
    "API-KEY": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

data = {
    "url": "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf",
    "printProduction": {
        "colorSpace": "cmyk",
        "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
        "iccProfile": "fogra39",
        "preserveBlack": True
    }
}

try:
    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)
    response.raise_for_status()

    with open('print-ready.pdf', 'wb') as f:
        f.write(response.content)
    print("PDF converted successfully")

except requests.exceptions.HTTPError:
    print(f"HTTP {response.status_code}")
    print(f"Error Message: {response.text}")
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")

PHP

Install Guzzle with composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle.

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use GuzzleHttp\Client;
use GuzzleHttp\Exception\RequestException;

$headers = [
    'API-KEY' => 'XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX',
    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
];

$body = [
    'url' => 'https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf',
    'printProduction' => [
        'colorSpace' => 'cmyk',
        'pdfStandard' => 'pdf-x-4',
        'iccProfile' => 'fogra39',
        'preserveBlack' => true,
    ],
];

try {
    $client = new Client();
    $response = $client->post('https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct', [
        'headers' => $headers,
        'json' => $body,
    ]);

    file_put_contents('print-ready.pdf', (string) $response->getBody());
    echo "PDF converted successfully\n";

} catch (RequestException $e) {
    if ($e->hasResponse()) {
        echo "HTTP " . $e->getResponse()->getStatusCode() . "\n";
        echo "Error Message: " . $e->getResponse()->getBody() . "\n";
    } else {
        echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
    }
}

Java

Requires Java 17 or later.

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

public class PDFBoltIntegration {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String jsonBody = """
            {
                "url": "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf",
                "printProduction": {
                    "colorSpace": "cmyk",
                    "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
                    "iccProfile": "fogra39",
                    "preserveBlack": true
                }
            }
            """;

        var client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
        var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .uri(URI.create("https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct"))
                .header("API-KEY", "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX")
                .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
                .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(jsonBody))
                .build();

        var response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofByteArray());

        if (response.statusCode() == 200) {
            Files.write(Paths.get("print-ready.pdf"), response.body());
            System.out.println("PDF converted successfully");
        } else {
            System.err.println("HTTP " + response.statusCode());
            System.err.println("Error Message: " + new String(response.body()));
        }
    }
}

C#

Use a .NET 6 or later console project.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.Json;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class PDFBoltIntegration {
    public static async Task Main(string[] args) {
        using var client = new HttpClient();

        var requestData = new {
            url = "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf",
            printProduction = new {
                colorSpace = "cmyk",
                pdfStandard = "pdf-x-4",
                iccProfile = "fogra39",
                preserveBlack = true
            }
        };

        using var request = new HttpRequestMessage {
            Method = HttpMethod.Post,
            RequestUri = new Uri("https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct"),
            Content = new StringContent(
                JsonSerializer.Serialize(requestData),
                Encoding.UTF8,
                "application/json"
            )
        };

        request.Headers.Add("API-KEY", "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX");

        try {
            using var response = await client.SendAsync(request);

            if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode) {
                var errorContent = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
                Console.WriteLine($"HTTP {(int)response.StatusCode}");
                Console.WriteLine($"Error Message: {errorContent}");
                return;
            }

            var pdfBytes = await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync();
            await File.WriteAllBytesAsync("print-ready.pdf", pdfBytes);
            Console.WriteLine("PDF converted successfully");
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            Console.WriteLine($"Error: {ex.Message}");
        }
    }
}

Go

Requires Go 1.16 or later.

package main

import (
    "bytes"
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "io"
    "log"
    "net/http"
    "os"
)

func main() {
    data := map[string]interface{}{
        "url": "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf",
        "printProduction": map[string]interface{}{
            "colorSpace": "cmyk",
            "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
            "iccProfile": "fogra39",
            "preserveBlack": true,
        },
    }

    jsonBody, err := json.Marshal(data)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    req, err := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct", bytes.NewReader(jsonBody))
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    req.Header.Add("API-KEY", "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX")
    req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

    resp, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
        body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
        if err != nil {
            log.Fatal(err)
        }
        fmt.Printf("HTTP %d\n", resp.StatusCode)
        fmt.Printf("Error Message: %s\n", string(body))
        return
    }

    file, err := os.Create("print-ready.pdf")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer file.Close()

    if _, err := io.Copy(file, resp.Body); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    fmt.Println("PDF converted successfully")
}

Rust

Add these dependencies to Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
reqwest = { version = "0.13", features = ["json"] }
serde_json = "1"
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }

use reqwest::Client;
use serde_json::json;
use std::fs;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let client = Client::new();
    let url = "https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct";
    let request_data = json!({
        "url": "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf",
        "printProduction": {
            "colorSpace": "cmyk",
            "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
            "iccProfile": "fogra39",
            "preserveBlack": true
        }
    });

    let response = client
        .post(url)
        .header("API-KEY", "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX")
        .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
        .json(&request_data)
        .send()
        .await?;

    if !response.status().is_success() {
        println!("HTTP {}", response.status().as_u16());
        let error_text = response.text().await?;
        println!("Error Message: {}", error_text);
        return Ok(());
    }

    let pdf_bytes = response.bytes().await?;
    fs::write("print-ready.pdf", pdf_bytes)?;
    println!("PDF converted successfully");

    Ok(())
}

Convert a Local PDF to PDF/X

Read your local PDF file and encode its contents as Base64. Replace BASE64_PDF in the examples below with the encoded data, without the data:application/pdf;base64, prefix.

Request body

{
  "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
  "printProduction": {
    "colorSpace": "cmyk",
    "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
    "iccProfile": "fogra39",
    "preserveBlack": true
  }
}

cURL

curl --fail --show-error \
  'https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct' \
  -H 'API-KEY: XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
  "printProduction": {
    "colorSpace": "cmyk",
    "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
    "iccProfile": "fogra39",
    "preserveBlack": true
  }
}' \
  -o print-ready.pdf

Node.js

Requires Node.js 18 or later.

const fs = require('fs');

async function convertPdfToPdfX() {
    const requestData = {
        pdf: 'BASE64_PDF',
        printProduction: {
            colorSpace: 'cmyk',
            pdfStandard: 'pdf-x-4',
            iccProfile: 'fogra39',
            preserveBlack: true
        }
    };

    const response = await fetch('https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct', {
        method: 'POST',
        headers: {
            'API-KEY': 'XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX',
            'Content-Type': 'application/json'
        },
        body: JSON.stringify(requestData)
    });

    if (!response.ok) {
        const errorText = await response.text();
        throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status} - ${errorText}`);
    }

    const pdfBuffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
    fs.writeFileSync('print-ready.pdf', Buffer.from(pdfBuffer));
    console.log('PDF converted successfully');
}

convertPdfToPdfX().catch(console.error);

Python

Install requests with pip install requests.

import requests

url = "https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct"
headers = {
    "API-KEY": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

data = {
    "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
    "printProduction": {
        "colorSpace": "cmyk",
        "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
        "iccProfile": "fogra39",
        "preserveBlack": True
    }
}

try:
    response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)
    response.raise_for_status()

    with open('print-ready.pdf', 'wb') as f:
        f.write(response.content)
    print("PDF converted successfully")

except requests.exceptions.HTTPError:
    print(f"HTTP {response.status_code}")
    print(f"Error Message: {response.text}")
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")

PHP

Install Guzzle with composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle.

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use GuzzleHttp\Client;
use GuzzleHttp\Exception\RequestException;

$headers = [
    'API-KEY' => 'XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX',
    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
];

$body = [
    'pdf' => 'BASE64_PDF',
    'printProduction' => [
        'colorSpace' => 'cmyk',
        'pdfStandard' => 'pdf-x-4',
        'iccProfile' => 'fogra39',
        'preserveBlack' => true,
    ],
];

try {
    $client = new Client();
    $response = $client->post('https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct', [
        'headers' => $headers,
        'json' => $body,
    ]);

    file_put_contents('print-ready.pdf', (string) $response->getBody());
    echo "PDF converted successfully\n";

} catch (RequestException $e) {
    if ($e->hasResponse()) {
        echo "HTTP " . $e->getResponse()->getStatusCode() . "\n";
        echo "Error Message: " . $e->getResponse()->getBody() . "\n";
    } else {
        echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
    }
}

Java

Requires Java 17 or later.

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

public class PDFBoltIntegration {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String jsonBody = """
            {
                "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
                "printProduction": {
                    "colorSpace": "cmyk",
                    "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
                    "iccProfile": "fogra39",
                    "preserveBlack": true
                }
            }
            """;

        var client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
        var request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .uri(URI.create("https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct"))
                .header("API-KEY", "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX")
                .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
                .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(jsonBody))
                .build();

        var response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofByteArray());

        if (response.statusCode() == 200) {
            Files.write(Paths.get("print-ready.pdf"), response.body());
            System.out.println("PDF converted successfully");
        } else {
            System.err.println("HTTP " + response.statusCode());
            System.err.println("Error Message: " + new String(response.body()));
        }
    }
}

C#

Use a .NET 6 or later console project.

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.Json;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class PDFBoltIntegration {
    public static async Task Main(string[] args) {
        using var client = new HttpClient();

        var requestData = new {
            pdf = "BASE64_PDF",
            printProduction = new {
                colorSpace = "cmyk",
                pdfStandard = "pdf-x-4",
                iccProfile = "fogra39",
                preserveBlack = true
            }
        };

        using var request = new HttpRequestMessage {
            Method = HttpMethod.Post,
            RequestUri = new Uri("https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct"),
            Content = new StringContent(
                JsonSerializer.Serialize(requestData),
                Encoding.UTF8,
                "application/json"
            )
        };

        request.Headers.Add("API-KEY", "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX");

        try {
            using var response = await client.SendAsync(request);

            if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode) {
                var errorContent = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
                Console.WriteLine($"HTTP {(int)response.StatusCode}");
                Console.WriteLine($"Error Message: {errorContent}");
                return;
            }

            var pdfBytes = await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync();
            await File.WriteAllBytesAsync("print-ready.pdf", pdfBytes);
            Console.WriteLine("PDF converted successfully");
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            Console.WriteLine($"Error: {ex.Message}");
        }
    }
}

Go

Requires Go 1.16 or later.

package main

import (
    "bytes"
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "io"
    "log"
    "net/http"
    "os"
)

func main() {
    data := map[string]interface{}{
        "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
        "printProduction": map[string]interface{}{
            "colorSpace": "cmyk",
            "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
            "iccProfile": "fogra39",
            "preserveBlack": true,
        },
    }

    jsonBody, err := json.Marshal(data)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    req, err := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct", bytes.NewReader(jsonBody))
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    req.Header.Add("API-KEY", "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX")
    req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

    resp, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
        body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
        if err != nil {
            log.Fatal(err)
        }
        fmt.Printf("HTTP %d\n", resp.StatusCode)
        fmt.Printf("Error Message: %s\n", string(body))
        return
    }

    file, err := os.Create("print-ready.pdf")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer file.Close()

    if _, err := io.Copy(file, resp.Body); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    fmt.Println("PDF converted successfully")
}

Rust

Add these dependencies to Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
reqwest = { version = "0.13", features = ["json"] }
serde_json = "1"
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }

use reqwest::Client;
use serde_json::json;
use std::fs;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let client = Client::new();
    let url = "https://api.pdfbolt.com/v1/tools/convert-pdfx/direct";
    let request_data = json!({
        "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
        "printProduction": {
            "colorSpace": "cmyk",
            "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
            "iccProfile": "fogra39",
            "preserveBlack": true
        }
    });

    let response = client
        .post(url)
        .header("API-KEY", "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX")
        .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
        .json(&request_data)
        .send()
        .await?;

    if !response.status().is_success() {
        println!("HTTP {}", response.status().as_u16());
        let error_text = response.text().await?;
        println!("Error Message: {}", error_text);
        return Ok(());
    }

    let pdf_bytes = response.bytes().await?;
    fs::write("print-ready.pdf", pdf_bytes)?;
    println!("PDF converted successfully");

    Ok(())
}

Request Parameters

Set the Content-Type header to application/json. Include either url or pdf in the JSON body, not both. Encrypted or password-protected PDFs are not supported.

url

Type: string

Required: Yes, if pdf is omitted

Details: Direct, publicly accessible HTTPS URL of the input PDF. Maximum length: 2,048 characters.

URLs must not contain login credentials or fragments such as #page=2. Redirects, private network addresses, and custom headers for downloading the PDF are not supported.

Usage:

{
  "url": "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf"
}

pdf

Type: string

Required: Yes, if url is omitted

Details: Base64-encoded contents of the input PDF, without the data:application/pdf;base64, prefix.

Usage:

{
  "pdf": "BASE64_PDF"
}

printProduction

Type: object

Required: No

Default Value: pdfStandard: "pdf-x-4", iccProfile: "fogra39", preserveBlack: true

Details: Sets the PDF/X standard, ICC profile, and black preservation. Output is always CMYK.

Usage:

{
  "url": "https://pdfbolt.com/samples/pdfx-conversion-sample.pdf",
  "printProduction": {
    "colorSpace": "cmyk",
    "pdfStandard": "pdf-x-4",
    "iccProfile": "fogra39",
    "preserveBlack": true
  }
}

Print Production Settings

Parameter	Type	Default	Values	Description
colorSpace	string	Not set	"cmyk"	Output is always CMYK.
pdfStandard	string	"pdf-x-4"	"pdf-x-4" "pdf-x-1a"	Target PDF/X standard.
iccProfile	string	"fogra39"	"fogra39" "fogra51" "swop" "gracol"	ICC profile used for color conversion.
preserveBlack	boolean	true	true false	Keeps pure RGB black as 100% K when enabled.

Defaults and parameter requirements

• Send only url or pdf to use the defaults: PDF/X-4, FOGRA39, and preserveBlack: true.
• When setting iccProfile, also set colorSpace to "cmyk".
• When setting preserveBlack, set colorSpace to "cmyk" or include pdfStandard.

PDF/X-4 preserves live transparency. PDF/X-1a flattens transparency. Use the PDF/X standard and ICC profile required by your print provider. See Print Production for details on standards, profiles, and black preservation.

filename

Type: string

Required: No

Default Value: convert-pdfx.pdf

Details: Output PDF filename in the Content-Disposition header. Maximum 255 characters. Allowed characters: A–Z, a–z, 0–9, ., _, and -. Provide the filename with or without the .pdf extension.

Usage:

{
  "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
  "filename": "print-ready.pdf"
}

contentDisposition

Type: string

Required: No

Default Value: inline

Details: Specifies whether the browser should display or download the PDF.

• "inline": Display the PDF in the browser, if supported.
• "attachment": Prompt a download.

Usage:

{
  "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
  "filename": "print-ready.pdf",
  "contentDisposition": "attachment"
}

customS3PresignedUrl

Type: string

Required: No

Details: Uploads the converted PDF to your S3-compatible bucket using an HTTPS pre-signed PUT URL. Available only with /v1/tools/convert-pdfx/sync. Maximum 2048 characters.

The URL must remain valid until the upload completes. On success, isCustomS3Bucket is true, and documentUrl and expiresAt are null. Omit this parameter to use PDFBolt's temporary storage.

See Uploading to Your S3 Bucket for setup details.

Usage:

{
  "pdf": "BASE64_PDF",
  "filename": "print-ready.pdf",
  "contentDisposition": "attachment",
  "customS3PresignedUrl": "https://your-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/print-ready.pdf?<presigned-query-params>"
}

Successful Response

The response format depends on the endpoint.

Direct

Returns HTTP 200 with the converted PDF in the response body.

Content-Type: application/pdf

Save the response body as a PDF file. The result is not stored for later download.

Sync

Returns HTTP 200 with a JSON response containing the result metadata.

Content-Type: application/json

With PDFBolt's default storage, download the PDF from documentUrl before expiresAt (valid for 24 hours). The example below uses default storage.

{
  "requestId": "db347fe5-7b72-45f6-92f9-a7b7755ab6c8",
  "status": "SUCCESS",
  "errorCode": null,
  "errorMessage": null,
  "documentUrl": "https://s3.pdfbolt.com/pdfbolt_db347fe5-7b72-92f9-a7b7755ab6_2026-11-03T10-00-00Z.pdf",
  "expiresAt": "2026-11-04T10:00:00Z",
  "isAsync": false,
  "duration": 1840,
  "documentSizeMb": 1.25,
  "isCustomS3Bucket": false
}

With customS3PresignedUrl, the PDF is uploaded to your bucket. On success, isCustomS3Bucket is true, and documentUrl and expiresAt are null.

See Sync response fields for field descriptions.

Failure Response

Failed conversions consume no credits. Check errorCode and errorMessage for details before retrying.

HTTP status	Common cause	Action
400	Invalid parameters, an inaccessible URL or PDF download timeout, an encrypted or invalid PDF, failed PDF/X validation, or a plan restriction.	Check errorMessage and correct the input or settings. PDF/X API access requires Growth or higher.
400	Custom S3 upload failed (CUSTOM_S3_UPLOAD_ERROR, Sync only).	Check the pre-signed URL and upload permissions.
413	The input PDF, request body, or output PDF exceeds its size limit.	Reduce the file or request size. See Limits and Credits.
422	The PDF/X processing time limit was exceeded (CONVERSION_TIMEOUT).	Use a smaller or less complex PDF. Retrying the same document may time out again.

Example validation error:

{
  "timestamp": "2026-11-03T10:00:00Z",
  "httpErrorCode": 400,
  "errorCode": "BAD_REQUEST",
  "errorMessage": "PDF/X requires CMYK output."
}

See Error Handling for the error response format and other common errors.

Limits and Credits

Limit	Value
Input files per request	1 PDF
Input PDF size	100 MB

Encrypted, empty, and invalid PDFs are rejected.

Successful conversions cost one credit per started 5 MB of output. Failed conversions consume no credits.

Requests share your account's rate limits. The x-pdfbolt-conversion-cost response header reports the credits charged.

Processing time and output size depend on the document. PDF/X-1a conversion may take longer and produce a larger file because of transparency flattening. Both endpoints wait for conversion to finish.

Related Documentation

📄️ Generate PDFs with PDF/X Output

Generate PDF/X files from HTML, URLs, or templates.

📄️ Free PDF/X Converter

Convert PDFs to PDF/X online without an account.

📄️ OpenAPI Reference

Explore endpoint schemas and response formats.

📄️ Merge PDFs

Combine multiple PDFs into one file.

📄️ Compress PDFs

Reduce the size of existing PDF files.