pdfium-impl-output-formats

name	pdfium-impl-output-formats
description	Use when turning a rendered pdfium-render PdfBitmap into a PNG or JPEG file, into an image crate DynamicImage, or into raw pixel bytes, and when the exported colors look wrong with red and blue swapped. Prevents the BGRA-versus-RGBA channel-swap bug and the removed as_bytes method, and prevents image-crate version mismatches. Covers as_image, as_rgba_bytes, as_raw_bytes, bytes_required_for_size, saving via DynamicImage with ImageFormat, and the image_025 feature coupling. Keywords: pdfium-render save PDF as PNG, export PDF page to JPEG, PdfBitmap as_image, as_rgba_bytes, as_raw_bytes, DynamicImage, image crate, ImageFormat, save_with_format, BGRA RGBA channel swap, red and blue swapped, colors wrong, image looks blue, as_bytes removed, how do I export a PDF page as an image
license	MIT
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code. Requires pdfium-render 0.8,0.9.
metadata	{"author":"OpenAEC-Foundation","version":"1.0"}

pdfium-impl-output-formats

Rendering a page produces a PdfBitmap. This skill turns that bitmap into a deliverable: a PNG or JPEG file, an image crate DynamicImage, or raw pixel bytes for a downstream pipeline. The one trap that dominates this area is byte order: a PDFium bitmap is BGRA-family, the image crate expects RGBA, and mixing them swaps red and blue.

Scope: bitmap-to-output conversion. For producing the PdfBitmap (the PdfRenderConfig builder, render_with_config) see pdfium-syntax-rendering.

Quick Reference

The output API (0.9.x)

You want	Call	Returns
an image crate image	bitmap.as_image()	Result<DynamicImage, PdfiumError>
normalized RGBA8 bytes	bitmap.as_rgba_bytes()	Vec<u8>
native-order raw bytes	bitmap.as_raw_bytes()	Vec<u8>
pixel width / height	bitmap.width() / bitmap.height()	Pixels
the source pixel format	bitmap.format()	Result<PdfBitmapFormat, _>
buffer size for a size	PdfBitmap::bytes_required_for_size(w, h)	usize

The byte-order rule

A native PdfBitmap buffer is BGRA-ordered (PdfBitmapFormat::BGRA, BGRx, BGR, or Gray). The image crate expects RGBA / RGB order.

• ALWAYS use as_image() to get a DynamicImage: it performs the correct channel conversion internally.
• ALWAYS use as_rgba_bytes() when you need raw bytes for the image crate or any RGBA consumer: it normalizes to RGBA8 regardless of source format.
• NEVER feed as_raw_bytes() output to an RGBA consumer: those bytes are in the bitmap's native BGRA order, so red and blue come out swapped (issue #50).
• Use as_raw_bytes() only when the consumer expects the exact native format reported by bitmap.format().

Core rules

• NEVER call as_bytes(): it was removed in 0.9.0. Use as_raw_bytes() or as_rgba_bytes().
• ALWAYS keep the pdfium-render image_* feature matched to the image crate version in Cargo.toml, or as_image() returns a DynamicImage your code cannot use.
• ALWAYS convert to RGB with into_rgb8() before saving JPEG: JPEG has no alpha channel.

Decision Trees

Which accessor do I use?

What does the consumer expect?
  An image file (PNG / JPEG)         -> as_image(), then save (see Patterns)
  An image crate DynamicImage        -> as_image()
  Raw RGBA8 bytes (web canvas, GPU,
      another RGBA library)          -> as_rgba_bytes()
  Raw bytes in the exact native
      PDFium format                  -> as_raw_bytes() + check format()

Which file format do I save?

Does the output need transparency or lossless pixels?
  YES -> PNG. save_with_format(path, ImageFormat::Png). Alpha is preserved.
  NO, it is a photo-like page and size matters
      -> JPEG. into_rgb8() first (drops alpha), then
         save_with_format(path, ImageFormat::Jpeg).

Patterns

These examples assume bitmap is a PdfBitmap from page.render_with_config(&config)? (see pdfium-syntax-rendering). Functions return Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> because saving mixes PdfiumError and the image crate's ImageError.

Pattern 1: Save a page as PNG

use pdfium_render::prelude::*;

fn save_png(bitmap: &PdfBitmap, path: &str)
    -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // as_image() converts BGRA to the correct channel order.
    bitmap.as_image()?.save_with_format(path, image::ImageFormat::Png)?;
    Ok(())
}

as_image() returns a Result<DynamicImage, PdfiumError>. The ? propagates the error; DynamicImage::save_with_format handles PNG encoding.

Pattern 2: Save a page as JPEG

use pdfium_render::prelude::*;

fn save_jpeg(bitmap: &PdfBitmap, path: &str)
    -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    bitmap
        .as_image()?           // DynamicImage, correct color order
        .into_rgb8()           // drop the alpha channel: JPEG has none
        .save_with_format(path, image::ImageFormat::Jpeg)?;
    Ok(())
}

This is the canonical shape from the pdfium-render export.rs example. into_rgb8() is required for JPEG; skipping it on an image with alpha is an error.

Pattern 3: Raw RGBA bytes for a pipeline

use pdfium_render::prelude::*;

/// Hand pixels to a consumer that expects tightly packed RGBA8 rows.
fn rgba_pixels(bitmap: &PdfBitmap) -> (Vec<u8>, Pixels, Pixels) {
    // as_rgba_bytes() normalizes to RGBA8 regardless of the source format.
    let bytes = bitmap.as_rgba_bytes();
    (bytes, bitmap.width(), bitmap.height())
}

For a web canvas, a GPU texture upload, or another RGBA library, this is the correct accessor. NEVER substitute as_raw_bytes() here.

Pattern 4: Native bytes and buffer sizing

use pdfium_render::prelude::*;

fn native_buffer(bitmap: &PdfBitmap)
    -> Result<(Vec<u8>, PdfBitmapFormat), PdfiumError> {
    let format = bitmap.format()?;        // BGRA / BGRx / BGR / Gray
    let bytes = bitmap.as_raw_bytes();    // bytes in exactly that format
    Ok((bytes, format))
}

fn expected_size(width: Pixels, height: Pixels) -> usize {
    // The buffer length a bitmap of this size needs.
    PdfBitmap::bytes_required_for_size(width, height)
}

Use as_raw_bytes() only when the consumer is told the exact PdfBitmapFormat; otherwise the BGRA order will be misread.

Pattern 5: Match the image crate feature

Cargo.toml must keep the image crate version and the pdfium-render image_* feature in step:

[dependencies]
pdfium-render = { version = "0.9", features = ["image_025"] }
image = "0.25"

image_025 pairs with image 0.25, image_024 with 0.24, image_023 with 0.23. image_latest tracks the newest. A mismatch makes as_image() return a DynamicImage from a different image version than the one your code imports, which is a distinct, incompatible type.

Version Notes: 0.8.x vs 0.9.x

• PdfBitmap::as_bytes() was deprecated in 0.8.16 and REMOVED in 0.9.0. Replace it with as_raw_bytes() (native order) or as_rgba_bytes() (normalized RGBA8).
• as_rgba_bytes() was added in 0.8.16. On older versions only as_raw_bytes and the now-removed as_bytes existed.
• The image_023 / image_024 / image_025 feature family was introduced in 0.8.26. Before that the image crate version was fixed by the crate.
• 0.9.2 changed PdfBitmap::empty() and from_bytes(): the bindings argument was dropped, from_bytes() became safe, and an unsafe from_bytes_unchecked() was added. On 0.9.1 and earlier from_bytes() is unsafe and both take a bindings argument.

Anti-Patterns (summary)

Anti-pattern	Why it fails	Fix
as_raw_bytes() into an RGBA consumer	native bytes are BGRA: red and blue swap	as_rgba_bytes() or as_image()
as_bytes()	removed in 0.9.0	as_raw_bytes() / as_rgba_bytes()
saving an RGBA image as JPEG without into_rgb8()	JPEG has no alpha channel	into_rgb8() before save_with_format
image crate version not matching the image_* feature	as_image() yields an incompatible DynamicImage type	align Cargo.toml

Full failure transcripts and fixes are in references/anti-patterns.md.

Reference Files

• references/methods.md: exact verified signatures for PdfBitmap, PdfBitmapFormat, and the image crate methods used here.
• references/examples.md: complete, verified Rust programs for PNG export, JPEG export, raw-byte handoff, and feature configuration.
• references/anti-patterns.md: each output failure with the cause and the corrected code.

Related Skills

• pdfium-syntax-rendering: producing the PdfBitmap with PdfRenderConfig and render_with_config.
• pdfium-errors-runtime: the PdfiumError variants, including the byte-order bug class.
• pdfium-core-coordinates: Pixels versus PdfPoints and rendered raster dimensions.