PDFTEX(1)

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version 2026.1 · 5 versions
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💖 PDFTEX(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the pdftex, pdfetex page from the General Commands Manual — yes, the PDF-from-TeX icon herself 💅✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

pdftex, pdfetex — PDF output from TeX. That’s the whole vibe: TeX goes in, PDF comes out, slay 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

pdftex [options] [&format]  [ file [ more-input ] | [ \more-input ]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

Okay so you run the pdfTeX typesetter on file[.tex], and it usually creates file.pdf — main character behavior fr fr. If the file argument has no extension, .tex gets appended to it. For the whole command-line parsing situation, check tex(1).

pdfTeX is a descendant of TeX that can create pdf files directly and dvi files — which one happens is determined by the value of the \pdfoutput primitive parameter. It includes the etex(1) extensions and adds many more extensions of its own. In dvi mode, pdfTeX can be used as an upward-compatible replacement for the TeX engine. No cap. 💜

The typical use of pdfTeX is with pregenerated TeX formats (.fmt files), usually with pdf output enabled. For example, the pdftex command uses the plain TeX format, and the pdflatex(1) command uses the LaTeX format. As described in etex(1), the e-TeX extensions are enabled when building the .fmt file.

🖼️ Image formats supported 🖼️

In pdf mode, pdfTeX can natively handle the pdf, jpg, jbig2, and png graphics formats. It cannot include PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript (eps) graphics files — so you can convert them to pdf using, for example, epstopdf(1). The PostScript files output by mpost(1), which are highly restricted in their use of PostScript, can be handled directly using the supp-pdf.tex macros, or converted to pdf with mptopdf(1). iconic workaround energy 🌈

🧚 Program variants 🧚

Starting with version 1.40 (around 2007), pdfTeX incorporated the e-TeX extensions, and the pdfetex and etex executables became symlinks to the pdftex binary. The etex executable generates dvi files by default; pdfetex has the same behavior as pdftex. yes bestie, symlink lore 💅

👑 Both engine and driver 👑

When generating pdf output, pdfTeX must have all necessary font and device information and thus is acting like a device driver with dvi output, similar to, say, dvips(1). Therefore there are various primitives to specify the device information, such as the height, width, resolution, and so forth. Also, pdfTeX reads glyph information for the fonts used, e.g., from Type 1 or PK bitmap files. pdfTeX also supports TrueType fonts, but it’s necessary to define an encoding before using them (see references). OpenType fonts are not supported. 💀

✨ OPTIONS ✨

For the common TeX command-line options and handling, see tex(1). The following pdfTeX-specific options are also supported:

  • -draftmode — Enabled \pdfdraftmode, in which pdfTeX doesn’t write a pdf and doesn’t read any included images, thus speeding up execution. fast-girl mode activated 🔥
  • -etex — Enable the e-TeX extensions. This option is only effective in combination with -ini. It is typically enabled implicitly, with a leading * on the format initialization file, as described in etex(1).
  • -output-format format — Set the output format mode; format must be either pdf or dvi. choose your fighter 💅
  • -synctex number — generate SyncTeX data for previewers according to bits of number. See synctex(1).

🌱 ENVIRONMENT 🌱

See tex(1). Also, this environment variable is specific to pdfTeX:

  • TEXMF_DEBUG_PNG_COPY — If set to "1", pdfTeX reports various attributes of each png image, including whether the image is copied. This is useful when a document uses numerous png images, since reencoding (instead of copying) can take considerable time. See the Graphics chapter in the pdfTeX manual for more information. png detective mode 🔍

Also, these environment variables are considered for all engines except original TeX:

  • SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH — If set, its value, taken to be in epoch-seconds, will be used for the timestamps in the PDF output, such as the CreationDate and ModDate keys. This is useful for making reproducible builds. reproducible-build queen 👑
  • FORCE_SOURCE_DATE — If set to the value "1", the time-related TeX primitives (\year, \month, \day, \time) are also initialized from the value of SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH. This is not recommended if there is any viable alternative. pdfTeX also has several primitives to support reproducible builds; see the manual.

📁 FILES 📁

See tex(1). Also:

  • $TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/config/etex.ini — The driver file that builds the plain format files for pdfTeX, pdftex.fmt and pdfetex.fmt, in TeX Live.
  • $TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/config/pdftexmagfix.tex — Make \magnification work as expected under pdfTeX. Included in the format files.
  • $TEXMFMAIN/tex/generic/tex-ini-files/pdftexconfig.tex — Define shared pdf settings, such as the default pdf version, the pdf height and width, etc.
  • $TEXMF[SYS]CONFIG/tex/generic/tex-ini-files/pdftexconfig.tex — The installation-specific version of the above (in TeX Live), since the default paper size is defined by the installation.
  • $TEXMF[SYS]VAR/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map — Mapping of tfm files to Type 1 fonts; generally maintained automatically in TeX Live.

💀 BUGS 💀

See tex(1). short and shady, just like the original 😭

🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

epstopdf(1), etex(1), luatex(1), mptopdf(1), tex(1).

👑 AUTHORS 👑

TeX was created by Donald E. Knuth. The primary author of the pdfTeX enhancements is Hàn The Thành, with major contributions from Petr Sojka, Jiri Zlatuska, and Peter Breitenlohner (e-TeX).

okay that’s the whole page bestie 🫶 this beauty is Web2C 2026, dated 14 February 2026 — now go make something iconic, mwah 💋✨🌈

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