TCPDF

Open Source PHP class for generating PDF documents

tc-lib-pdf is the new generation of TCPDF for modern PHP. Generate production PDFs in pure PHP 8.1+ with a modular, Composer-first architecture built for maintainability and long-term evolution.

TCPDF started in 2002 and became one of the most widely adopted PDF engines in the PHP ecosystem. Today, active development continues in tc-lib-pdf and the tc-lib package stack.

Start Here

  • Install:
composer require tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf

Why tc-lib-pdf

tc-lib-pdf is a deterministic, pure-PHP PDF toolkit with no external rendering service requirements. It modernizes the original TCPDF approach into focused packages, stricter typing, and cleaner integration boundaries.

  • Modern baseline: PHP 8.1+, Composer-first, modular dependencies.
  • Production features: advanced typography, graphics, security, standards, and forms.
  • Predictable output: deterministic generation suitable for invoices, reports, labels, and archival workflows.
  • Flexible adoption: use the full stack or install only the tc-lib packages your project needs.

Legacy TCPDF vs New tc-lib-pdf

The legacy TCPDF repository is deprecated:

Recommendation:

  • Starting a new project: use tc-lib-pdf.
  • Running legacy TCPDF in production: keep it stable short-term and plan phased migration.

Migration matters because tc-lib-pdf is where active evolution continues.

Requirements

  • PHP 8.1+
  • Composer
  • Optional extensions: gd, zlib

Quick Start

<?php

require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';

\define(
	'K_PATH_FONTS',
	\realpath(__DIR__ . '/../vendor/tecnickcom/tc-lib-pdf-font/target/fonts')
);

$pdf = new \Com\Tecnick\Pdf\Tcpdf();

$font = $pdf->font->insert($pdf->pon, 'helvetica', '', 12);
$pdf->addPage();
$pdf->page->addContent($font['out']);

$html = '<h1>Hello, PDF!</h1><p>Generated with tc-lib-pdf.</p>';
$pdf->addHTMLCell($html, 15, 20, 180);

$raw = $pdf->getOutPDFString();
$pdf->renderPDF($raw);

What You Can Build

  • Invoices, receipts, and financial statements
  • Shipping labels and barcode-driven logistics documents
  • Compliance and archival PDFs (including PDF/A workflows)
  • Branded reports with custom fonts, SVG, and advanced layout controls
  • Interactive documents with forms, annotations, and signatures

Key Features

Text and Typography

  • Full UTF-8 Unicode and right-to-left language support
  • TrueTypeUnicode, OpenTypeUnicode v1, TrueType, OpenType v1, Type1, and CID-0 fonts
  • Font subsetting for smaller files
  • TeX-style language-aware hyphenation, optional zero-width breakpoints, and tracking controls
  • Text rendering modes: fill, stroke, and clipping
  • Automatic line breaks, page breaks, and justified text

Layout and Rendering

  • Standard and custom page sizes, margins, and measurement units
  • HTML and CSS rendering
  • SVG rendering
  • Multi-column layouts and no-write page regions
  • Headers, footers, reusable page content, bookmarks, named destinations, and table of contents
  • Automatic page numbering, page groups, page box control, and page reordering

Images and Graphics

  • Native JPEG, PNG, and SVG support
  • Extended image support through optional GD formats
  • Geometric drawing and 2D transformations
  • Linear/radial and mesh gradients, crop marks, and registration bars
  • ICC profiles, grayscale/RGB/CMYK/spot colors, transparency, and overprint control

Security and Standards

  • Password and certificate-based encryption (RC4 and AES up to 256-bit)
  • Digital signatures: detached CMS (PKCS#7) signatures with configurable appearance fields
  • RFC 3161 TSA timestamps embedded in CMS signatures with configurable digest, policy OID, nonce, timeout, and TLS peer verification
  • LTV (Long-Term Validation) embedding in the same PDF revision: /DSS, /VRI, /OCSPs, /CRLs, and /Certs
  • Rich annotations: links, notes, attachments, markup, widgets, and media
  • JavaScript embedding
  • PDF/A (1/2/3 with a/b/u conformance levels) and PDF/X support

Advanced Workflows

  • 1D and 2D barcodes through tc-lib-barcode
  • Interactive AcroForm fields
  • XObject templates and layers with visibility controls
  • Multiple output targets: browser display, download, file save, and MIME attachment
  • Factur-X / ZUGFeRD workflows via embedded XML in PDF/A-3

tc-lib-* Ecosystem

tc-lib-pdf is built on a set of focused, independently versioned packages. Each can be used standalone or as part of the full stack:

  • tc-lib-pdf : Top-level PDF generation library; composes the full package stack.
  • tc-lib-barcode : Generates 1D and 2D barcodes (QR, Data Matrix, Code 128, and more).
  • tc-lib-color : Color conversion and management across RGB, CMYK, HSL, and spot color spaces.
  • tc-lib-file : File and data-URI helpers used internally for asset loading.
  • tc-lib-unicode : Unicode string processing: bidirectional text, normalization, and character utilities.
  • tc-lib-unicode-data : Raw Unicode character data tables used by tc-lib-unicode.
  • tc-lib-pdf-encrypt : PDF encryption: RC4 and AES (up to 256-bit), permissions, and digital signatures.
  • tc-lib-pdf-filter : PDF stream filters: FlateDecode, ASCII85, LZW, and others.
  • tc-lib-pdf-font : Font loading, subsetting, and embedding for all supported font types.
  • tc-lib-pdf-graph : Vector graphics primitives: paths, transformations, gradients, and transparency.
  • tc-lib-pdf-image : Image loading and embedding: JPEG, PNG, SVG, and GD-backed formats.
  • tc-lib-pdf-page : Page geometry, margins, boxes, and page-level attributes.
  • tc-lib-pdf-parser : Reads and parses existing PDF files for import or manipulation.

Migration Path

  1. Keep legacy TCPDF stable in production while planning migration.
  2. Start new features on tc-lib-pdf.
  3. Move legacy document flows incrementally: one template, one module, or one service at a time.
  4. Validate outputs with your existing PDF regression checks.

Next Steps

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