| MuPDF | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Original author | Tor Andersson |
| Developers | Artifex Software, Inc. |
| Initial release | 31 March 2005; 20 years ago (2005-03-31) |
| Stable release | |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Unix-like,Windows,Android,iOS |
| Type | Framework |
| License | dual-licensed (GNU Affero General Public License and commercial permissive license) |
| Website | mupdf |
MuPDF is afree and open-source softwareframework written inC that implements aPDF,XPS, andEPUB parsing and rendering engine. It is used primarily torender pages intobitmaps, but also provides support for other operations such as searching and listing the table of contents and hyperlinks.
The focus of MuPDF is on speed, small code size, and high-quality anti-aliased rendering. Since the 1.2 release, MuPDF has optional support for interactive features such as form filling,JavaScript and transitions.[2]
The library ships with a rudimentaryX11 and Windows viewer, and a set of command-line tools for batch rendering (mutool draw), examining the file structure (mutool show), and rewriting files (mutool clean). Later versions also have a JavaScript interpreter (mutool run) that allows running scripts to create and edit PDF files.
A number of free software applications use MuPDF to render PDF documents, the most notable beingSumatra PDF. MuPDF is also available as a package for mostUnix-like operating system distributions.
Independent parties have ported the library to many platforms, including theAmazon Kindle,[3]HP TouchPad,[4]PlayStation Portable,[5]Wii,[6] andDOS.[7]
In 2002, Tor Andersson started work on MuPDF based on theLibart rendering library byRaph Levien. After Artifex Software acquired the MuPDF project, the development focus shifted on writing a new modern graphics library called Fitz. Fitz was originally intended as anR&D project to replace the agingGhostscript graphics library, but has instead become the rendering engine powering MuPDF.[8]
In 2005, the first version of MuPDF with the new Fitz library was released.
In 2009, Artifex Software filed acopyright infringement lawsuit againstPalm, Inc. for violating their copyrights on MuPDF.[9] At that time Artifex offered MuPDFdual-licensed, either underGPLv2 or under a proprietary license meant by Artifex for commercial use. When Palm included MuPDF inwebOS and complied with GPLv2 by releasing the changedsource code of the library,[10][11] Artifex claimed that the GPL version would be unsuitable for "commercial use"[12] as the complete, aggregated product (PDFviewer, WebOS) would have to be placed under GPL.[13] Artifex voluntarily dismissed the suit in 2011.[14]
In 2011, support forMicrosoft'sXPS was added, based on code from theGhostXPS library.[2]
Since February 2013, with the 1.2 release,licensing terms have changed fromGNU General Public License toGNU Affero General Public License v3.[2]
