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pdf-to-epub

Convert fixed-layout PDFs into reader-optimized, reflowable EPUB 3 books.

The tool is built for books that already have a usable text layer. It keeps the reading order, retains figures, adds image fallbacks for tables Docling detects but cannot reconstruct, and recompresses detected non-table figures as compact JPEG files for practical e-reader use.

Why this exists

A PDF preserves a page. An e-reader needs content that can adapt to its screen, font size, margins, and reading settings.

pdf-to-epub turns the PDF into structured HTML with Docling, repairs a few common extraction artifacts, then packages the result as EPUB 3. The output is designed to read well across small e-ink readers, tablets, and phones without turning every source page into a fixed image.

Quick start

Install the system dependencies on macOS:

brew install uv pandoc

Run the published package from PyPI:

uvx pdf-to-epub input.pdf -o output.epub

For Apple Silicon, explicitly select MPS:

uvx pdf-to-epub input.pdf \
  -o output.epub \
  --device mps

The first run installs an isolated Python environment and may download Docling model weights. Later runs reuse the uv and model caches.

Run from a local checkout

git clone https://github.com/daikeren/pdf-to-epub.git
cd pdf-to-epub
uvx --from . pdf-to-epub input.pdf -o output.epub

What the pipeline does

1. Docling extracts structured HTML and JSON with referenced images.
2. The postprocessor removes PDF line-wrap spaces inside Chinese text.
3. Empty table nodes receive cropped, lossless PNG page fallbacks.
4. Other figures are converted to baseline JPEG without resizing.
5. Pandoc packages the result as reflowable EPUB 3 with navigation and reader CSS.
6. EPUBCheck runs when a jar is configured.

The default JPEG quality is 88. It reduced the image payload in the benchmark below from 420.67 MiB of intermediate PNG files to 69.25 MiB without changing image dimensions.

EPUBCheck

Formal EPUB validation is optional but recommended. Download EPUBCheck from the official W3C releases, then pass the jar path:

uvx pdf-to-epub input.pdf \
  -o output.epub \
  --epubcheck-jar /path/to/epubcheck.jar

You can also set EPUBCHECK_JAR. Java must be available as java. If no jar is configured, conversion still runs and reports EPUBCheck as skipped.

Common options

--quality 88          JPEG quality for figures; defaults to 88
--device auto         Docling device: auto, cpu, mps, cuda
--language auto       Detect Chinese or English, or pass an EPUB language tag
--ocr                 Enable OCR for scanned PDFs; off by default
--keep-workdir        Retain HTML, JSON, and image intermediates
--work-dir PATH       Create a unique retained run directory under PATH
--epubcheck-jar PATH  Validate with EPUBCheck through Java
--overwrite           Replace an existing output EPUB

Run pdf-to-epub --help for the complete interface.

Automatic language detection currently emits either zh-CN or en. Pass an explicit tag such as --language zh-TW, --language ja, --language ko, or --language fr for other language variants.

Observed benchmark

This is one measured conversion, not a general performance guarantee.

The run used Apple Silicon with MPS and cached Docling model weights. Visual checks covered the cover, an illustrated chapter, the recovered table, and the image with the lowest measured PSNR. The benchmark does not prove that every PDF will preserve every character or layout decision equally well.

Boundaries

• The pipeline does not call a generative LLM or send book text to an external text API. Docling's layout, table, and optional OCR models run locally.
• OCR is off by default. Use --ocr for scanned PDFs, with slower and less predictable results.
• Reflow requires interpretation. Keep the original PDF when exact visual or archival fidelity matters.
• Complex tables may remain images. The fallback tries to follow the surrounding document order, but exact page placement is not guaranteed.
• The current version has been exercised on macOS with Apple Silicon. Other platforms are expected to use Docling's supported devices but are not covered by this benchmark.

Development

uv sync --extra dev
uv run pytest -q

The test suite covers table-only documents, image optimization, Chinese reflow cleanup, input preservation, output overwrite protection, work-directory isolation, and language detection.

License

MIT © 2026 Andy Dai