25 KiB
myst
% SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022 James R. Barlow % SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
Installing OCRmyPDF
(latest)=
The easiest way to install OCRmyPDF is to follow the steps for your operating system/platform. This version may be out of date, however.
These platforms have one-liner installs:
:::{list-table} :header-rows: 0
-
- Homebrew (macOS and Linux)
brew install ocrmypdf
-
- Debian, Ubuntu
apt install ocrmypdf
-
- Windows Subsystem for Linux
apt install ocrmypdf
-
- Fedora
dnf install ocrmypdf tesseract-osd
-
- macOS (MacPorts)
port install ocrmypdf
-
- FreeBSD
pkg install textproc/py-ocrmypdf
-
- Snap (snapcraft packaging)
snap install ocrmypdf:::
More detailed procedures are outlined below. If you want to do a manual install, or install a more recent version than your platform provides, read on.
:::{contents} Platform-specific steps :depth: 2 :local: true :::
Installing on Linux
Debian and Ubuntu 22.04 or newer
:::{list-table} :header-rows: 1
-
- OCRmyPDF versions in Debian & Ubuntu
-
- {{ latest }}
-
- {{ deb_12 }} {{ deb_13 }} {{ deb_unstable }}
-
- {{ ubu_2204 }} {{ ubu_2404 }} :::
Users of Debian or Ubuntu may simply
apt install ocrmypdf
As indicated in the table above, Debian and Ubuntu releases may lag behind the latest version. If the version available for your platform is out of date, you could opt to install the latest version from source. See Installing HEAD revision from sources.
For full details on version availability for your platform, check the Debian Package Tracker or Ubuntu launchpad.net.
:::{note}
OCRmyPDF for Debian and Ubuntu currently omit the JBIG2 encoder.
OCRmyPDF works fine without it but will produce larger output files.
All JBIG2 patents expired in 2017, so if you build jbig2enc from source,
OCRmyPDF will automatically detect it on the PATH.
To add JBIG2 encoding, see {ref}jbig2.
:::
Fedora
:::{list-table} :header-rows: 1
-
- OCRmyPDF version
-
- {{latest}}
-
- {{fedora_40}} {{fedora_41}} {{fedora_rawhide}} :::
Users of Fedora may simply
dnf install ocrmypdf tesseract-osd
For full details on version availability, check the Fedora Package Tracker.
If the version available for your platform is out of date, you could opt to install the latest version from source. See Installing HEAD revision from sources.
:::{note}
OCRmyPDF for Fedora currently omits the JBIG2 encoder. All JBIG2 patents
expired in 2017. OCRmyPDF works fine without it but will produce larger
output files. If you build jbig2enc from source, OCRmyPDF will automatically
detect it on the PATH. To add JBIG2 encoding, see {ref}jbig2.
:::
(ubuntu-lts-latest)=
RHEL 9
Prepare the environment by getting Python 3.12:
dnf install python3.12 python3.12-pip
Then, follow Requirements for pip and HEAD install to install dependencies:
dnf install ghostscript tesseract
and build ocrmypdf in virtual environment:
python3.12 -m venv .venv
To add JBIG2 encoding, see {ref}Installing the JBIG2 encoder <jbig2>.
Note Fedora packages for language data haven't been branched for RHEL/EPEL, but you can get traineddata files directly from tesseract and place them in /usr/share/tesseract/tessdata.
Installing the latest version on Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 LTS
Ubuntu includes an older version of OCRmyPDF - you can install that with
apt install ocrmypdf. To install the latest version, we recommend using uv:
# Install system dependencies first
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install ocrmypdf
# Install uv and upgrade to the latest OCRmyPDF
pip install uv
uv pip install --user --upgrade ocrmypdf
Alternatively, use Homebrew on Linux for a full-featured installation (see below).
To add JBIG2 encoding, see {ref}jbig2.
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (and other older distributions)
:::{note} Ubuntu 20.04 is approaching end of life. Consider upgrading to Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS. :::
For older distributions, the most convenient way to install a recent version of OCRmyPDF is to use Homebrew on Linux:
brew install ocrmypdf
See {ref}homebrew-linux for more information on using Homebrew on Linux.
Arch Linux (AUR)
:::{image} https://repology.org/badge/version-for-repo/aur/ocrmypdf.svg :alt: ArchLinux :target: https://repology.org/metapackage/ocrmypdf :::
There is an Arch User Repository (AUR) package for OCRmyPDF.
Installing AUR packages as root is not allowed, so you must first setup a
non-root user and
configure sudo.
The standard Docker image, archlinux/base:latest, does not have a
non-root user configured, so users of that image must follow these guides. If
you are using a VM image, such as the official Vagrant image, this work may already
be completed for you.
Next you should install the base-devel package group. This includes the standard tooling needed to build packages, such as a compiler and binary tools.
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel
Now you are ready to install the OCRmyPDF package.
curl -O https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/snapshot/ocrmypdf.tar.gz
tar xvzf ocrmypdf.tar.gz
cd ocrmypdf
makepkg -sri
At this point you will have a working install of OCRmyPDF, but the Tesseract install won’t include any OCR language data. You can install the tesseract-data package group to add all supported languages, or use that package listing to identify the appropriate package for your desired language.
sudo pacman -S tesseract-data-eng
As an alternative to this manual procedure, consider using an AUR helper. Such a tool will automatically fetch, build and install the AUR package, resolve dependencies (including dependencies on AUR packages), and ease the upgrade procedure.
If you have any difficulties with installation, check the repository package page.
:::{note}
The OCRmyPDF AUR package currently omits the JBIG2 encoder. OCRmyPDF works
fine without it but will produce larger output files. The encoder is
available from the jbig2enc-git AUR package and may be installed
using the same series of steps as for the installation OCRmyPDF AUR
package. Alternatively, it may be built manually from source following the
instructions in {ref}Installing the JBIG2 encoder <jbig2>. If JBIG2 is
installed, OCRmyPDF 7.0.0 and later will automatically detect it.
:::
Alpine Linux
:::{image} https://repology.org/badge/version-for-repo/alpine_edge/ocrmypdf.svg :alt: Alpine Linux :target: https://repology.org/metapackage/ocrmypdf :::
To install OCRmyPDF for Alpine Linux:
apk add ocrmypdf
Gentoo Linux
:::{image} https://repology.org/badge/version-for-repo/gentoo_ovl_guru/ocrmypdf.svg :alt: Gentoo Linux :target: https://repology.org/metapackage/ocrmypdf :::
To install OCRmyPDF on Gentoo Linux, use the following commands:
eselect repository enable guru
emaint sync --repo guru
emerge --ask app-text/OCRmyPDF
Other Linux packages
See the Repology page.
In general, first install the OCRmyPDF package for your system, then optionally use the procedure Installing with Python pip to install a more recent version.
(homebrew-linux)=
Installing with Homebrew (macOS and Linux)
:::{image} https://img.shields.io/homebrew/v/ocrmypdf.svg :alt: homebrew :target: https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/ocrmypdf :::
Homebrew provides a full-featured OCRmyPDF installation on both macOS and Linux with all recommended dependencies. This is often the easiest way to get a complete, up-to-date installation.
brew install ocrmypdf
This includes Tesseract, Ghostscript, and all required dependencies. English language support is included by default. For other languages:
brew install tesseract-lang # Optional: Install all language packs
:::{tip} For Linux users: Homebrew on Linux is an excellent choice when your distribution's package is outdated or missing optional dependencies like jbig2enc, pngquant, or unpaper. Homebrew provides a consistent, full-featured installation that works across many Linux distributions.
Install Homebrew on Linux: https://brew.sh :::
Installing on macOS
Homebrew
See {ref}homebrew-linux above - the installation is identical on macOS.
MacPorts
:::{image} https://img.shields.io/badge/dynamic/json?url=https%3A%2F%2Fports.macports.org%2Fapi%2Fv1%2Fports%2Focrmypdf%2F%3Fformat%3Djson&query=version&label=MacPorts :alt: Macports Version Information :target: https://ports.macports.org/port/ocrmypdf :::
OCRmyPDF is included in MacPorts:
sudo port install ocrmypdf
Note that while this will install tesseract you will need to install the appropriate tesseract language ports.
Manual installation on macOS
These instructions are for installing a more current version of OCRmyPDF than is available from Homebrew. Note that Homebrew versions usually track releases fairly closely.
If it's not already present, install Homebrew.
Update Homebrew and install dependencies:
brew update
Install or upgrade the required Homebrew packages, if any are missing.
To do this, use brew edit ocrmypdf to obtain a recent list of Homebrew
dependencies. You could also check the .workflows/build.yml.
This will include the English, French, German and Spanish language packs. If you need other languages you can optionally install them all:
(macos-all-languages)=
brew install tesseract-lang # Option 2: for all language packs
Install uv and OCRmyPDF:
pip install uv
uv pip install --user ocrmypdf
The command line program should now be available:
ocrmypdf --help
Installing on Windows
Native Windows
% If you have a Windows that is not the Home edition, you can use Windows Sandbox to test on a blank Windows instance. % https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/application-security/application-isolation/windows-sandbox/
:::{note} Administrator privileges will be required for some of these steps. :::
You must install the following for Windows:
- Python 64-bit
- Tesseract 64-bit
- Ghostscript 64-bit
Using the winget package manager:
winget install -e --id Python.Python.3.12winget install -e --id UB-Mannheim.TesseractOCR
You will need to install Ghostscript manually, since it does not support automated installs anymore.
(Or alternately, using the Chocolatey package manager, install the following when running in an Administrator command prompt):
choco install python3choco install --pre tesseractchoco install pngquant(optional)
Either set of commands will install the required software. At the moment there is no single command to install Windows.
You may then use pip to install ocrmypdf. (This can performed by a user or
Administrator.):
python3 -m pip install ocrmypdf
% The Windows Python versions do not place any python or python3 executable in the path. % They add the py launcher to the path: % https://docs.python.org/3/using/windows.html#python-launcher-for-windows
If you installed Python using WinGet, then use the following command instead:
py -m pip install ocrmypdf
and use:
py -m ocrmypdf
To start OCRmyPDF.
If you intend to use more Python software on your Windows machine, consider the use of pipx or a similar tool to create isolated Python environments for each Python software that you want to use.
OCRmyPDF will check the Windows Registry and standard locations in your Program Files
for third party software it needs (specifically, Tesseract and Ghostscript). To
override the versions OCRmyPDF selects, you can modify the PATH environment
variable. Follow these directions
to change the PATH.
:::{warning} 32-bit Windows is not supported. :::
Windows Subsystem for Linux
- Install Ubuntu 22.04 for Windows Subsystem for Linux, if not already installed.
- Follow the procedure to install {ref}
OCRmyPDF on Ubuntu 22.04 <ubuntu-lts-latest>. - Open the Windows command prompt and create a symlink:
wsl sudo ln -s /home/$USER/.local/bin/ocrmypdf /usr/local/bin/ocrmypdf
Then confirm that the expected version from PyPI ({{ latest }}) is installed:
wsl ocrmypdf --version
You can then run OCRmyPDF in the Windows command prompt or Powershell, prefixing
wsl, and call it from Windows programs or batch files.
Cygwin64
First install the the following prerequisite Cygwin packages using setup-x86_64.exe:
python311 (or later)
python3?-devel
python3?-pip
python3?-lxml
python3?-imaging
(where 3? means match the version of python3 you installed)
gcc-g++
ghostscript
libexempi3
libexempi-devel
libffi6
libffi-devel
pngquant
qpdf
libqpdf-devel
tesseract-ocr
tesseract-ocr-devel
Then open a Cygwin terminal (i.e. mintty), run the following commands. Note
that if you are using the version of pip that was installed with the Cygwin
Python package, the command name will be pip3. If you have since updated
pip (with, for instance pip3 install --upgrade pip) the the command is
likely just pip instead of pip3:
pip3 install wheel
pip3 install ocrmypdf
The optional dependency "unpaper" that is currently not available under Cygwin.
Without it, certain options such as --clean will produce an error message.
However, the OCR-to-text-layer functionality is available.
Docker
You can also Install the Docker image on Windows. Ensure that your command prompt can run the docker "hello world" container.
Installing on FreeBSD
:::{image} https://repology.org/badge/version-for-repo/freebsd/ocrmypdf.svg :alt: FreeBSD :target: https://repology.org/project/ocrmypdf/versions :::
pkg install textproc/py-ocrmypdf
To install a more recent version, you could attempt to first install the system
version with pkg, then use pip install --user ocrmypdf.
Installing the Docker image
For some users, installing the Docker image will be easier than installing all of OCRmyPDF's dependencies.
See Installing the Docker image for more information.
(installing-with-python-pip)=
Installing with uv (recommended)
We recommend using uv for installing OCRmyPDF from PyPI. uv is a fast, modern Python package manager that provides better dependency resolution and consistent behavior across all platforms.
For best results, first install your platform's
version of
ocrmypdf using the instructions elsewhere in this document to satisfy system
dependencies. Then use uv to get the latest OCRmyPDF version.
# Install uv if you don't have it
pip install uv
# Install ocrmypdf in a virtual environment (recommended)
uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
uv pip install ocrmypdf
# Or install globally
uv pip install --system ocrmypdf
Use ocrmypdf --version to confirm what version was installed.
Installing with pip
If you prefer pip, you can still use it:
pip install --user ocrmypdf
(If the message appears Requirement already satisfied: ocrmypdf in...,
you will need to use pip install --user --upgrade ocrmypdf.)
Installing with pipx
Some users may prefer pipx for isolated command-line tool installations:
pipx install ocrmypdf
Or run without permanent installation:
pipx run ocrmypdf
(requirements-for-pip-and-head-install)=
Requirements for pip and HEAD install
OCRmyPDF currently requires these external programs and libraries to be
installed, and must be satisfied using the operating system package
manager. pip cannot provide them.
:::{versionchanged} 17.0.0 Ghostscript is now optional. pypdfium2 can be used for PDF rasterization, and verapdf can validate speculative PDF/A conversion. :::
The following versions are required:
- Python 3.11 or newer (3.12+ recommended)
- Tesseract 4.1.1 or newer
- One of: Ghostscript 9.54+ or pypdfium2 (Python package)
- One of: Ghostscript 9.54+ or verapdf (for PDF/A output)
- fpdf2 2.8 or newer (Python package)
- uharfbuzz (Python package)
- fonts-noto or equivalent (system package, recommended)
- jbig2enc 0.29 or newer (optional)
- pngquant 2.5 or newer (optional)
- unpaper 6.1 (optional)
:::{note} For the best user experience, install both Ghostscript and pypdfium2. pypdfium2 is faster for rasterization, while Ghostscript provides is required for certain PDF/A conversions. :::
Dependency summary:
| Feature | Option 1 | Option 2 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF rasterization | pypdfium2 (Python) | Ghostscript (binary) | pypdfium2 preferred when available |
| PDF/A conversion | verapdf + pikepdf | Ghostscript | verapdf validates speculative conversion |
| Text rendering | fpdf2 + uharfbuzz | - | Required |
| OCR | tesseract-ocr | --ocr-engine none |
Can be skipped entirely |
Minimum viable installation: tesseract-ocr + (pypdfium2 OR Ghostscript) + fpdf2 + uharfbuzz
Recommended installation: tesseract-ocr + pypdfium2 + Ghostscript + verapdf + fpdf2 + uharfbuzz + fonts-noto + unpaper + pngquant + jbig2enc
We recommend 64-bit versions of all software. (32-bit versions are not supported, although on Linux, they may still work.)
fpdf2 and uharfbuzz are required dependencies that provide the text
layer rendering engine. fpdf2 generates the PDF text layer, while uharfbuzz
provides text shaping for proper multilingual support. These replace the
legacy hOCR-based renderer. Install with: pip install fpdf2 uharfbuzz
fonts-noto (or an equivalent comprehensive font package) is recommended
for proper text rendering, especially for non-Latin scripts. On Debian/Ubuntu:
apt install fonts-noto. On Fedora: dnf install google-noto-fonts-common.
On macOS with Homebrew: brew install font-noto.
pypdfium2, if present, provides fast PDF page rasterization using
the pdfium library (the same library used by Google Chrome). It is
preferred over Ghostscript when available due to better performance.
Install with: pip install pypdfium2
verapdf, if present, enables fast speculative PDF/A conversion. OCRmyPDF attempts to create PDF/A by adding metadata and ICC profiles using pikepdf, then validates with verapdf. If validation passes, Ghostscript is skipped entirely. See your distribution's package manager or visit verapdf.org.
jbig2enc, if present, will be used to optimize the encoding of
monochrome images. This can significantly reduce the file size of the
output file. It is not required.
jbig2enc is not available in some
distributions due to historical patent concerns, but all JBIG2 patents
expired in 2017. It can easily be built from source. To add JBIG2 encoding,
see {ref}jbig2.
:::{warning}
Lossy JBIG2 encoding (--jbig2-lossy) has been removed in v17.0.0 due to
well-documented risks of character substitution errors. Only lossless
JBIG2 compression is now supported.
:::
pngquant, if present, is optionally used to optimize the encoding of
PNG-style images in PDFs (actually, any that are that losslessly
encoded) by lossily quantizing to a smaller color palette. It is only
activated then the --optimize argument is 2 or 3.
unpaper, if present, enables the --clean and --clean-final
command line options.
These are in addition to the Python packaging dependencies, meaning that
unfortunately, the pip install command cannot satisfy all of them.
(installing-head-revision-from-sources)=
Installing HEAD revision from sources
If you have git and Python 3.12 or newer installed, you can install
from source. (Python 3.11 is supported but 3.12+ is recommended.) When the pip installer runs, it will alert you if
dependencies are missing.
If you prefer to build every from source, you will need to build pikepdf from source. First ensure you can build and install pikepdf.
We recommend using uv to install from sources:
git clone -b main https://github.com/ocrmypdf/OCRmyPDF.git
cd OCRmyPDF
pip install uv # If not already installed
uv sync
This creates a virtual environment and installs all dependencies. Activate the environment to use ocrmypdf:
source .venv/bin/activate
ocrmypdf --help
Alternatively, install directly from GitHub using pip:
pip install git+https://github.com/ocrmypdf/OCRmyPDF.git
Or, to install in editable mode allowing customization:
git clone -b main https://github.com/ocrmypdf/OCRmyPDF.git
cd OCRmyPDF
pip install -e .
Note: ocrmypdf will only be accessible when the virtual environment
is activated.
To run the program:
ocrmypdf --help
If not yet installed, the script will notify you about dependencies that need to be installed. The script requires specific versions of the dependencies. Older version than the ones mentioned in the release notes are likely not to be compatible to OCRmyPDF.
Optional Features
OCRmyPDF provides optional features and development tools. We recommend using uv as your package manager.
Installing User Features
User features are available as optional dependencies. Install them with uv (recommended) or pip:
# Using uv (recommended)
uv sync --extra watcher # File watching service
uv sync --extra webservice # Streamlit web UI
uv sync --extra watcher --extra webservice # Multiple features
Development Tools
Development tools use dependency groups:
# Testing infrastructure
uv sync --group test
# Documentation building
uv sync --group docs
# Enhanced Streamlit development
uv sync --group streamlit-dev
# All development groups
uv sync
Why use uv?
- Modern, fast Python package manager
- Required for development (testing, docs)
- Better dependency resolution
- Consistent across all platforms
Install uv: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh or visit https://docs.astral.sh/uv/
For development
To install all of the development and test requirements:
git clone -b main https://github.com/ocrmypdf/OCRmyPDF.git
cd OCRmyPDF
uv sync --all-groups
To add JBIG2 encoding, see {ref}jbig2.
Shell completions
Completions for bash and fish are available in the project's
misc/completion folder. The bash completions are likely zsh
compatible but this has not been confirmed. Package maintainers, please
install these at the appropriate locations for your system.
To manually install the bash completion, copy
misc/completion/ocrmypdf.bash to /etc/bash_completion.d/ocrmypdf
(rename the file).
To manually install the fish completion, copy
misc/completion/ocrmypdf.fish to
~/.config/fish/completions/ocrmypdf.fish.
Note on 32-bit support
We don't support any 32-bit system, including 32-bit Python or 32-bit Ghostscript on Windows.