weasyprint

Render an HTML file to PDF

$ weasyprint [path/to/input.html] [path/to/output.pdf]

$ weasyprint [path/to/input.html] [path/to/output.png] --stylesheet [path/to/stylesheet.css]

$ weasyprint [path/to/input.html] [path/to/output.pdf] --verbose

$ weasyprint [path/to/input.html] [path/to/output.png] --resolution [300]

$ weasyprint [path/to/input.html] [path/to/output.png] --base-url [url_or_filename]

weasyprint [options] INPUT [OUTPUT]

INPUT
    Path or URL of the HTML input file.

OUTPUT
    Path of the PDF output file. If omitted, the PDF is written to standard output.

-e, --encoding ENCODING
    Character encoding for the input HTML file. Defaults to UTF-8.

-s, --stylesheet STYLESHEET
    Path or URL of a CSS stylesheet to apply.

-m, --media-type MEDIA_TYPE
    Media type to use for CSS @media rules (e.g., print, screen).

-u, --base-url BASE_URL
    Base URL to use for resolving relative URLs in the HTML.

-w, --presentational-hints
    Follow presentational hints, e.g. margin=auto, to be deprecated.

--pdf-variant PDF_VARIANT
    PDF variant. Can be: pdf/a-1b (PDF/A level B conformance), pdf/a-3b (PDF/A level B conformance), pdf/ua-1 (PDF/UA conformance), pdfx-1a (PDF/X level 1a conformance), or pdf (default).

--version
    Show the version number and exit.

-v, --verbose
    Enable verbose output.

-q, --quiet
    Suppress all output except errors.

-h, --help
    Show help message and exit.

WeasyPrint is a visual rendering engine for HTML and CSS that can export to PDF. It aims to support web standards for printing. It's written in Python but relies heavily on external libraries for parsing HTML, CSS, and handling graphics. WeasyPrint excels at generating PDF documents from HTML sources, providing relatively faithful rendering compared to web browsers, especially with print-specific stylesheets. It’s often used in server-side applications for generating invoices, reports, and other documents intended for printing or archival purposes. The command-line tool offers a simple way to convert a single HTML file or a list of files to PDF or to standard output.

It’s designed to be a solid foundation for complex document generation workflows.

WeasyPrint's CSS support is not 100% complete, so some complex layouts may not render perfectly. Performance can also be a consideration for large or complex documents.

WeasyPrint often needs external libraries to be correctly configured in the system. For example: cffi, Cairo, Pango and GDK. Correct configuration is important for correct PDF generation.

WeasyPrint was created as a project aiming to be a better tool for PDF generation from HTML with focus on web standards and print capabilities. It’s been actively developed and maintained, becoming a popular choice for server-side PDF generation.

wkhtmltopdf(1), prince(1)