mupdf

lightweight PDF, XPS, and EPUB viewer

TLDR

Open PDF file

$ mupdf [document.pdf]

Open at specific page

$ mupdf [document.pdf] [page_number]

Open with custom resolution (DPI)

$ mupdf -r [150] [document.pdf]

Open password-protected PDF

$ mupdf -p [password] [document.pdf]

Open EPUB with custom layout

$ mupdf -W [600] -H [800] -S [14] [book.epub]

mupdf is a lightweight PDF, XPS, and EPUB viewer. It renders documents with high quality using anti-aliased graphics.The viewer focuses on speed and simplicity. Documents render quickly even with complex graphics. Memory usage remains low compared to full-featured readers.Navigation uses keyboard shortcuts similar to vi. Page jumping, searching, and zooming are all keyboard-accessible. Mouse scrolling and dragging also work.The rendering engine handles transparency, gradients, and embedded fonts correctly. It supports PDF features including annotations, forms, and JavaScript (limited).Color inversion helps with reading in low light. The viewer remembers zoom level and page position when reopening documents.

PARAMETERS

-p password

Password for encrypted PDFs.

-r resolution

Set zoom level via DPI (default: 72).

-A bits

Anti-aliasing quality, 0-8 (default: 8).

-C RRGGBB

White tint color in hex (default: FFFFF0).

-B RRGGBB

Black tint color in hex (default: 303030).

-W width

Page width in points for EPUB layout.

-H height

Page height in points for EPUB layout.

-S size

Font size in points for EPUB layout.

-U CSS-file

User stylesheet for EPUB rendering.

-I

Invert display colors.

-J

Disable JavaScript in PDF forms.

-X

Disable EPUB document styles.

KEY BINDINGS

Quit.

+/-

Zoom in/out.

Fit page width.

Fit page height.

Auto-fit page.

Space/PgDn

Next page.

b/PgUp

Previous page.

_number_ g

Go to page number.

Go to last page.

Search forward.

Search backward.

n/N

Next/previous search result.

Reload document.

Toggle ICC color management.

[/]

Rotate left/right.

Toggle fullscreen.

h/j/k/l

Scroll left/down/up/right.

CAVEATS

Minimal UI - no toolbar or menus. Form filling is basic. JavaScript support limited. No annotation editing. Some PDFs may render differently than Adobe Reader.

HISTORY

MuPDF was developed by Artifex Software, the maintainers of Ghostscript, starting around 2006. It was designed as a lightweight, high-quality renderer. The viewer (mupdf) is the reference application for the MuPDF library, which is used in many other projects including Sumatra PDF.