--- title: "opendataloader-pdf" type: "tool" slug: "opendataloader-project-opendataloader-pdf" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/tools/opendataloader-project-opendataloader-pdf" github_url: "https://github.com/opendataloader-project/opendataloader-pdf" homepage_url: "https://opendataloader.org" stars: 26371 forks: 2497 primary_language: "Java" license: "Apache-2.0" categories: ["developer-tools", "data-retrieval"] tags: ["ai", "a11y", "document-parsing", "pdf-parser", "accessibility", "pdf-accessibility"] updated_at: "2026-07-07T18:23:30.246797+00:00" --- # opendataloader-pdf > PDF Parser for AI-ready data. Automate PDF accessibility. A Java-based tool designed to automate the parsing of PDF documents into structured formats like Markdown, JSON, and HTML, supporting OCR and table extraction. It also aids in automating the process of converting untagged PDFs into accessible Tagged PDFs, addressing regulatory compliance issues around document accessibility. ## Facts - Repository: https://github.com/opendataloader-project/opendataloader-pdf - Homepage: https://opendataloader.org - Stars: 26,371 · Forks: 2,497 · Open issues: 69 · Watchers: 106 - Primary language: Java - License: Apache-2.0 - Last pushed: 2026-07-06T18:01:46+00:00 ## Categories - [Developer Tools](/categories/developer-tools.md) - [Data & Retrieval](/categories/data-retrieval.md) ## Tags ai, a11y, document-parsing, pdf-parser, accessibility, pdf-accessibility ## Related tools - [ECC](/tools/affaan-m-ecc.md) - The agent harness performance optimization system (★ 226,962) - [AutoGPT](/tools/significant-gravitas-autogpt.md) - AutoGPT: Build, Deploy, and Run AI Agents (★ 185,417) - [prompts.chat](/tools/f-prompts-chat.md) - The world's largest open-source prompt library for AI (★ 165,019) - [transformers](/tools/huggingface-transformers.md) - 🤗 Transformers: the model-definition framework for state-of-the-art machine learning models (★ 162,347) - [JavaGuide](/tools/snailclimb-javaguide.md) - Snailclimb/JavaGuide: 面试 & 后端通用面试指南，覆盖计算机基础、数据库、分布式、高并发、系统设计与 AI 应用开发 (★ 156,863) - [langflow](/tools/langflow-ai-langflow.md) - Langflow is a powerful platform for building and deploying AI-powered agents and workflows. (★ 151,298) - [firecrawl](/tools/firecrawl-firecrawl.md) - The API to search, scrape, and interact with the web at scale. (★ 147,117) - [browser-use](/tools/browser-use-browser-use.md) - 🌐 Make websites accessible for AI agents. Automate tasks online with ease. (★ 103,315) ## README (excerpt) ```text # OpenDataLoader PDF **PDF Parser for AI-ready data. Automate PDF accessibility. Open-source.** opendataloader-project%2Fopendataloader-pdf | Trendshift 🔍 **PDF parser for AI data extraction** — Extract Markdown, JSON (with bounding boxes), and HTML from any PDF. #1 in benchmarks (0.907 overall). Deterministic local mode + AI hybrid mode for complex pages. - **How accurate is it?** — #1 in benchmarks: 0.907 overall, 0.928 table accuracy across 200 real-world PDFs including multi-column and scientific papers. Deterministic local mode + AI hybrid mode for complex pages ([benchmarks](#extraction-benchmarks)) - **Scanned PDFs and OCR?** — Yes. Built-in OCR (80+ languages) in hybrid mode. Works with poor-quality scans at 300 DPI+ ([hybrid mode](#hybrid-mode-1-accuracy-for-complex-pdfs)) - **Tables, formulas, images, charts?** — Yes. Complex/borderless tables, LaTeX formulas, and AI-generated picture/chart descriptions all via hybrid mode ([hybrid mode](#hybrid-mode-1-accuracy-for-complex-pdfs)) - **How do I use this for RAG?** — `pip install opendataloader-pdf`, convert in 3 lines. Outputs structured Markdown for chunking, JSON with bounding boxes for source citations, and HTML. LangChain integration available. Python, Node.js, Java SDKs ([quick start](#get-started-in-30-seconds) | [LangChain](#langchain-integration)) ♿ **PDF accessibility automation** — Auto-tag untagged PDFs into screen-reader-ready Tagged PDFs at scale. First open-source tool to generate Tagged PDFs end-to-end. - **What's the problem?** — Accessibility regulations are now enforced worldwide. Manual PDF remediation costs $50–200 per document and doesn't scale ([regulations](#pdf-accessibility--pdfua-conversion)) - **What's free?** — Layout analysis + auto-tagging (Apache 2.0). Untagged PDF in → Tagged PDF out. No proprietary SDK dependency ([auto-tagging](#auto-tagging)) - **What about PDF/UA compliance?** — Converting Tagged PDF to PDF/UA-1 or PDF/UA-2 is an enterprise add-on. Auto-tagging generates the Tagged PDF; PDF/UA export is the final step ([pipeline](#accessibility-pipeline)) - **Why trust this?** — Built in collaboration with [Dual Lab](https://duallab.com) ([veraPDF](https://verapdf.org) developers) based on [PDF Association](https://pdfa.org) specifications, best practice guides and expertise of the [PDF Community](https://pdfa.org/community/). Auto-tagging follows the [Well-Tagged PDF specification](https://pdfa.org/wtpdf/), validated with veraPDF ([collaboration](https://opendataloader.org/docs/tagged-pdf-collaboration)) ## Get Started in 30 Seconds **Requires**: Java 11+ and Python 3.10+ ([Node.js](https://opendataloader.org/docs/quick-start-nodejs) | [Java](https://opendataloader.org/docs/quick-start-java) also available) > Before you start: run `java -version`. If not found, install JDK 11+ from [Adoptium](https://adoptium.net/). ```bash pip install -U opendataloader-pdf ``` ```python import opendataloader_pdf # Batch all files in one call — each convert() spawns a JVM process, so repeated calls are slow opendataloader_pdf.convert( input_path=["file1.pdf", "file2.pdf", "folder/"], output_dir="output/", format="markdown,json" ) ``` *Annotated PDF output — each element (heading, paragraph, table, image) detected with bounding boxes and semantic type.* ## What Problems Does This Solve? | Problem | Solution | Status | |---------|----------|--------| | **PDF structure lost during parsing** — wrong reading order, broken tables, no element coordinates | Deterministic local PDF to Markdown/JSON with bounding boxes, XY-Cut++ reading order | Shipped | | **Complex tables, scanned PDFs, formulas, charts** need AI-level understanding | Hybrid mode routes complex pages to AI backend (#1 in benchmarks) | Shipped | | **Manual PDF ``` --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/tools/opendataloader-project-opendataloader-pdf`](/api/graphcanon/tools/opendataloader-project-opendataloader-pdf) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_