pptx-to-pdf

Pure TypeScript PPTX-to-PDF converter. No LibreOffice. No native dependencies. Just buffer in, PDF out.

npm install pptx-to-pdf

Usage

import { convert } from 'pptx-to-pdf';
import fs from 'fs';

const pptx = fs.readFileSync('presentation.pptx');
const pdf = await convert(pptx);
fs.writeFileSync('output.pdf', pdf);

API

convert(pptxBuffer, options?): Promise<Buffer>

Option	Type	Default	Description
slides	number[]	all	Slide indices to include (0-based)
fontDirs	string[]	[]	Additional directories to search for fonts
fontMap	Record<string, string | Buffer>	{}	Map font names to file paths or buffers
dpi	number	96	Output resolution
onWarning	(msg: string) => void	no-op	Callback for non-fatal warnings

Examples

Specific slides only

const pdf = await convert(pptx, {
  slides: [0, 2, 4], // first, third, and fifth slides
});

Custom fonts

const pdf = await convert(pptx, {
  fontDirs: ['/usr/share/fonts/truetype'],
  fontMap: {
    'Calibri': '/path/to/calibri.ttf',
    'Custom Font': fs.readFileSync('/path/to/custom.ttf'),
  },
});

Express endpoint

app.post('/convert', async (req, res) => {
  const pdf = await convert(req.body);
  res.type('application/pdf').send(pdf);
});

AWS Lambda

export const handler = async (event) => {
  const pptx = Buffer.from(event.body, 'base64');
  const pdf = await convert(pptx);
  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/pdf' },
    body: pdf.toString('base64'),
    isBase64Encoded: true,
  };
};

What it handles

• Text with fonts, sizes, colors, bold/italic/underline
• Shapes (rectangles, ellipses, arrows, rounded rects, and more)
• Images (JPEG, PNG) including cropped images
• Tables with cell backgrounds, borders, and text
• Slide backgrounds (solid, gradient, image)
• Theme colors and font schemes
• Placeholder inheritance (slide -> layout -> master)
• Group shapes with nested children
• Connectors

What it doesn't handle (yet)

• Charts
• SmartArt
• Animations and transitions
• Audio/video
• EMF/WMF vector graphics
• 3D effects and complex text transforms
• Pattern fills

How it works

The library parses the PPTX file (a ZIP archive of Office Open XML) and renders directly to PDF:

1. Extract ZIP archive with jszip
2. Parse all XML parts with fast-xml-parser (presentation, themes, masters, layouts, slides)
3. Resolve the full inheritance chain (slide -> layout -> master -> theme) for transforms, fills, and text styles
4. Measure text with opentype.js for accurate line breaking and layout
5. Render to PDF with pdfkit (vector paths, embedded images, positioned text)

No intermediate HTML. No headless browser. No subprocess.

Fonts

The library bundles Liberation Sans, Liberation Serif, and Liberation Mono (~2.5MB) as metric-compatible fallbacks for Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New. For better fidelity, provide the actual fonts via fontDirs or fontMap.

License

MIT