Ghostscript.NET

Ghostscript.NET is a managed C# wrapper for the Ghostscript native library (gsdll64.dll / libgs.so). It lets you rasterize, convert, and process PDF, PostScript, and EPS files from any .NET application without shelling out to a command-line process.

Install-Package Ghostscript.NET

Ghostscript version compatibility: Ghostscript.NET has been tested with Ghostscript versions up to 9.x. Compatibility with Ghostscript 10+ is not yet fully verified. See ghostpdl-downloads for available Ghostscript releases, and install the native library separately before using this package.

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Contents

• Why Ghostscript.NET
• Requirements
• Installation
• Quick start
• Key capabilities
• Code examples
• API overview
• Finding the Ghostscript native library
• PDF/A-3 conversion
• Documentation
• License

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Why Ghostscript.NET

• In-process — calls the Ghostscript library directly via P/Invoke; no child process, no shell, no temp-file plumbing
• High-fidelity rendering — uses the same Ghostscript engine that powers commercial print workflows
• Memory-based rasterization — render pages to SKBitmap (via SkiaSharp) without writing to disk
• Multi-instance — run multiple Ghostscript instances simultaneously within a single .NET process
• Cross-platform — targets .NET Standard 2.0; works on Windows and Linux
• 32-bit and 64-bit — auto-detects and loads the matching native library
• PDF/A-3 + ZUGFeRD / Factur-X — embed XML invoices into PDF/A-3 files for European e-invoicing standards

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Requirements

Requirement	Details
.NET	.NET Standard 2.0 or any compatible runtime (.NET 6, 7, 8, Framework 4.6.1+)
Ghostscript native library	Must be installed separately on the host machine
Ghostscript version	Tested with versions ≤ 9.x; Ghostscript 10+ compatibility not fully verified
OS	Windows (32-bit and 64-bit), Linux
SkiaSharp	Included as a NuGet dependency; provides SKBitmap for rasterized output

Installing the Ghostscript native library

Windows

Download and install the Ghostscript installer. The installer registers the DLL path in the Windows registry so GhostscriptVersionInfo.GetLastInstalledVersion() can find it automatically.

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

sudo apt-get install ghostscript
# Installs libgs.so to /usr/lib or /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/

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Installation

Package Manager Console

Install-Package Ghostscript.NET

.NET CLI

dotnet add package Ghostscript.NET

PackageReference

<PackageReference Include="Ghostscript.NET" Version="1.3.3" />

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Quick start

Rasterize all pages of a PDF to PNG files

using Ghostscript.NET;
using Ghostscript.NET.Rasterizer;
using SkiaSharp;

// Auto-detect the installed Ghostscript library
var version = GhostscriptVersionInfo.GetLastInstalledVersion();

using var rasterizer = new GhostscriptRasterizer();
rasterizer.Open("input.pdf", version, false);

for (int page = 1; page <= rasterizer.PageCount; page++)
{
    SKBitmap image = rasterizer.GetPage(dpi: 150, pageNumber: page);
    using var stream = File.OpenWrite($"page_{page:D3}.png");
    image.Encode(stream, SKEncodedImageFormat.Png, 100);
}

Convert a PDF to PDF using GhostscriptProcessor

using Ghostscript.NET.Processor;

using var processor = new GhostscriptProcessor();
processor.Process(new[]
{
    "-dBATCH", "-dNOPAUSE", "-dNOSAFER",
    "-sDEVICE=pdfwrite",
    "-sOutputFile=output.pdf",
    "input.pdf"
});

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Key capabilities

Area	Description
Page rasterization	Render any page of a PDF, PS, or EPS file to an SKBitmap at any DPI
Image export	Save pages as PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, or any SkiaSharp-supported format
In-memory rendering	Rasterize without writing intermediate files to disk
PDF conversion	Convert PS/EPS to PDF, compress PDFs, apply pdfwrite device settings
Custom switches	Pass any Ghostscript command-line switch directly via CustomSwitches or Process(args[])
Progress events	GhostscriptProcessor raises Started, Processing (per-page), Error, and Completed events
Multi-instance	Multiple GhostscriptProcessor or GhostscriptRasterizer instances can run in parallel
Stdin/stdout capture	Capture or redirect Ghostscript stdout/stderr via GhostscriptStdIO callbacks
Version detection	Auto-discovers installed Ghostscript on Windows (registry) and Linux (common library paths)
PDF/A-3	Convert PDFs to PDF/A-3b and embed XML invoices (XRechnung, Factur-X / ZUGFeRD)
Anti-aliasing	Control GraphicsAlphaBits and TextAlphaBits for rendering quality
EPS cropping	EPSClip property for correct EPS bounding box clipping
Zoom	GhostscriptViewer supports zoom-in / zoom-out and progressive page updates

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Code examples

Rasterize a single page to SKBitmap

using Ghostscript.NET;
using Ghostscript.NET.Rasterizer;

var version = GhostscriptVersionInfo.GetLastInstalledVersion();

using var rasterizer = new GhostscriptRasterizer();
rasterizer.Open("input.pdf", version, false);

// Page numbers are 1-based
SKBitmap bitmap = rasterizer.GetPage(dpi: 300, pageNumber: 1);

Rasterize with anti-aliasing and custom switches

using Ghostscript.NET;
using Ghostscript.NET.Rasterizer;

var version = GhostscriptVersionInfo.GetLastInstalledVersion();

using var rasterizer = new GhostscriptRasterizer();
rasterizer.GraphicsAlphaBits = 4;   // 1, 2, or 4
rasterizer.TextAlphaBits = 4;
rasterizer.CustomSwitches.Add("-dUseCropBox");

rasterizer.Open("input.pdf", version, false);

for (int i = 1; i <= rasterizer.PageCount; i++)
{
    SKBitmap page = rasterizer.GetPage(dpi: 150, pageNumber: i);
    // use page...
}

Rasterize from a stream (no temp file)

using Ghostscript.NET;
using Ghostscript.NET.Rasterizer;

var version = GhostscriptVersionInfo.GetLastInstalledVersion();

using var stream = File.OpenRead("input.pdf");
using var rasterizer = new GhostscriptRasterizer();
rasterizer.Open(stream, version, false);

SKBitmap bitmap = rasterizer.GetPage(dpi: 150, pageNumber: 1);

Convert PDF to PNG files using GhostscriptPngDevice

using Ghostscript.NET.OutputDevices;

var device = new GhostscriptPngDevice(GhostscriptPngDeviceType.Png16m);
device.GraphicsAlphaBits = GhostscriptImageDeviceAlphaBits.V_4;
device.TextAlphaBits    = GhostscriptImageDeviceAlphaBits.V_4;
device.ResolutionXY     = new GhostscriptImageDeviceResolution(300, 300);
device.InputFiles.Add("input.pdf");
device.Pdf.FirstPage    = 1;
device.Pdf.LastPage     = 5;
device.OutputPath       = @"output\page_%03d.png";
device.Process();

Convert PDF to JPEG

using Ghostscript.NET.OutputDevices;

var device = new GhostscriptJpegDevice(GhostscriptJpegDeviceType.Jpeg);
device.GraphicsAlphaBits = GhostscriptImageDeviceAlphaBits.V_4;
device.TextAlphaBits    = GhostscriptImageDeviceAlphaBits.V_4;
device.ResolutionXY     = new GhostscriptImageDeviceResolution(150, 150);
device.JpegQuality      = 85;
device.InputFiles.Add("input.pdf");
device.OutputPath       = @"output\page_%03d.jpg";
device.Process();

Run with custom arguments and capture output

using Ghostscript.NET;
using Ghostscript.NET.Processor;

public class MyStdIO : GhostscriptStdIO
{
    public override void StdIn(out string input, int count) => input = string.Empty;
    public override void StdOut(string output) => Console.Write(output);
    public override void StdError(string error) => Console.Error.Write(error);
}

using var processor = new GhostscriptProcessor();
processor.Processing += (sender, e) =>
    Console.WriteLine($"Processing page {e.CurrentPage} of {e.TotalPages}");
processor.Error += (sender, e) =>
    Console.Error.WriteLine($"Error: {e.Message}");

processor.Process(new[]
{
    "-dBATCH", "-dNOPAUSE",
    "-sDEVICE=pdfwrite",
    "-dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook",       // compress for screen/ebook
    "-sOutputFile=compressed.pdf",
    "input.pdf"
}, new MyStdIO());

Specify the Ghostscript DLL explicitly

using Ghostscript.NET;
using Ghostscript.NET.Rasterizer;

// Point directly to a specific DLL — useful when Ghostscript is not installed system-wide
var version = new GhostscriptVersionInfo(@"C:\gs\gs9.56.1\bin\gsdll64.dll");

using var rasterizer = new GhostscriptRasterizer();
rasterizer.Open("input.pdf", version, false);

Load the DLL from memory (embedded resource)

using Ghostscript.NET;
using Ghostscript.NET.Rasterizer;

byte[] dllBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(@"C:\gs\gs9.56.1\bin\gsdll64.dll");

using var rasterizer = new GhostscriptRasterizer();
rasterizer.Open("input.pdf", dllBytes);

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API overview

Core classes

Class	Namespace	Purpose
GhostscriptRasterizer	Ghostscript.NET.Rasterizer	Render PDF/PS/EPS pages to SKBitmap
GhostscriptProcessor	Ghostscript.NET.Processor	Run Ghostscript with any argument array; exposes progress events
GhostscriptViewer	Ghostscript.NET.Viewer	Interactive viewer with zoom and progressive rendering
GhostscriptVersionInfo	Ghostscript.NET	Discover installed Ghostscript versions; specify DLL path
GhostscriptLibrary	Ghostscript.NET	Low-level native library loader and P/Invoke surface
GhostscriptStdIO	Ghostscript.NET	Abstract base class for stdin/stdout/stderr callbacks
GhostscriptPngDevice	Ghostscript.NET.OutputDevices	Typed device for PNG output with all PNG switches
GhostscriptJpegDevice	Ghostscript.NET.OutputDevices	Typed device for JPEG output with quality and DPI settings
PDFA3Converter	Ghostscript.NET	Convert PDF to PDF/A-3b; embed XML invoices (ZUGFeRD / Factur-X)

GhostscriptRasterizer key members

Member	Type	Description
Open(string path)	Method	Open a file; auto-detects installed Ghostscript
Open(string path, GhostscriptVersionInfo, bool fromMemory)	Method	Open with explicit version info
Open(Stream stream, ...)	Method	Open from a stream; no temp file written to disk
Open(string path, byte[] library)	Method	Open with DLL loaded from a byte array
GetPage(int dpi, int pageNumber)	Method	Render page to SKBitmap; pages are 1-based
PageCount	Property	Total number of pages in the open document
GraphicsAlphaBits	Property	Anti-aliasing for graphics: 1, 2, or 4
TextAlphaBits	Property	Anti-aliasing for text: 1, 2, or 4
EPSClip	Property	Apply EPS bounding box clip when rasterizing EPS files
CustomSwitches	Property	List<string> of additional Ghostscript switches
Close()	Method	Release the open document
Dispose()	Method	Release all resources including the native library instance

GhostscriptProcessor key members

Member	Type	Description
Process(string[] args)	Method	Run Ghostscript with a raw argument array
Process(GhostscriptDevice device)	Method	Run using a typed device object
Process(string[] args, GhostscriptStdIO callback)	Method	Run with stdout/stderr capture
StartProcessing(...)	Method	Alias for Process; included for API compatibility
StopProcessing()	Method	Signal Ghostscript to abort the current job
IsRunning	Property	true while a job is in progress
IsStopping	Property	true if StopProcessing() has been called but the job hasn't exited yet
Started	Event	Raised when processing begins
Processing	Event	Raised once per page; args.CurrentPage, args.TotalPages
Error	Event	Raised on Ghostscript error output; args.Message
Completed	Event	Raised when processing finishes (success or error)

GhostscriptVersionInfo key members

Member	Type	Description
GetLastInstalledVersion()	Static method	Returns the highest-version Ghostscript found on the system
GetLastInstalledVersion(license, priority)	Static method	Filter by GhostscriptLicense: GPL, AFPL, or Artifex
GetInstalledVersions()	Static method	Returns all installed Ghostscript versions as a list
IsGhostscriptInstalled	Static property	true if any Ghostscript installation is detected
new GhostscriptVersionInfo(string dllPath)	Constructor	Point to a specific DLL file path
.DllPath	Property	Path to the native library file
.Version	Property	System.Version of the detected installation

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Finding the Ghostscript native library

GhostscriptVersionInfo.GetLastInstalledVersion() searches for the native library automatically:

• Windows: reads the registry keys HKLM\SOFTWARE\GPL Ghostscript\, HKLM\SOFTWARE\AFPL Ghostscript\, and HKLM\SOFTWARE\Artifex Ghostscript\. It matches the DLL bitness (32-bit gsdll32.dll / 64-bit gsdll64.dll) to the current process.
• Linux: searches common paths including /usr/lib, /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu, and /usr/local/lib for libgs.so.10, libgs.so.9, or libgs.so.

If Ghostscript is not installed in a standard location, pass the path directly:

// Explicit path
var version = new GhostscriptVersionInfo(@"C:\MyApp\gs\gsdll64.dll");

// From embedded byte array (deploy DLL as an embedded resource)
byte[] dll = GetEmbeddedResource("gsdll64.dll");
rasterizer.Open("input.pdf", dll);

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PDF/A-3 conversion

The PDFA3Converter class converts any PDF to PDF/A-3b format and optionally embeds a ZUGFeRD or Factur-X XML invoice. This is the format required by XRechnung (Germany) and Factur-X (France/EU) electronic invoicing standards.

Convert to plain PDF/A-3

using Ghostscript.NET;

var converter = new PDFA3Converter(@"C:\gs\gs9.56.1\bin\gsdll64.dll");
converter.ConvertToPDFA3("invoice.pdf", "invoice-pdfa3.pdf");

Embed a ZUGFeRD / Factur-X XML invoice

using Ghostscript.NET;

var converter = new PDFA3Converter(@"C:\gs\gs9.56.1\bin\gsdll64.dll");
converter.SetZUGFeRDProfile(ZUGFeRDProfile.Comfort);
converter.SetZUGFeRDVersion("2.3");
converter.SetEmbeddedXMLFile("factur-x.xml");
converter.ConvertToPDFA3("invoice.pdf", "invoice-pdfa3-zugferd.pdf");

Issues with PDFA3Converter should be tagged to @stephanstapel on GitHub.

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Documentation

Resource	URL
NuGet package	https://www.nuget.org/packages/Ghostscript.NET/
GitHub repository	https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/Ghostscript.NET
Sample projects	Ghostscript.NET.Samples/ in this repository
Ghostscript documentation	https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io
Ghostscript binary downloads	https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/ghostpdl-downloads/releases
Ghostscript command-line reference	https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Use.html
Bug reports	https://github.com/ArtifexSoftware/Ghostscript.NET/issues
Artifex commercial licensing	https://artifex.com/contact/ghostscript-net

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License

Ghostscript.NET is available under two licences:

• GNU AGPL v3 — free for open-source projects. Any application that uses or distributes Ghostscript.NET must release its complete source code under a compatible open-source licence. See COPYING in this repository for the full licence text.
• Commercial licence — required for proprietary or closed-source applications. Contact Artifex for licensing. Artifex is the exclusive commercial licensing agent for Ghostscript.