Ghostscript

What Ghostscript is

Ghostscript is a PostScript and PDF interpreter and rendering engine from Artifex Software Inc. It renders PDF, PostScript, PCL, and XPS files and converts among those formats, including to PDF/A. For PDFs, it offers compression with adjustable settings, optimization, rasterization, vector output, and OCR that can make printed or scanned material searchable. Ghostscript can run as a standalone command-line application or be integrated into another application as an SDK; its gsapi interface has Python, C#, and Java bindings. Other features include color management, overprint simulation, N-up imposition, screening, and trapping. The maker lists document conversion, archiving, previews, e-invoicing, pre-press, printing, and document management as use cases. It runs on Windows, macOS, Unix and Unix-like systems, VMS, and embedded systems. The AGPL release is free, but distributing Ghostscript in a closed-source product or deploying it in a SaaS environment requires a commercial license under Artifex’s stated guidance. AGPL comes without warranty or guaranteed support. Artifex lists commercial support options, and notes that conversion may not preserve extra metadata such as embedded files or outlines.