Foxit PDF SDK · Embedded PDF Library
The PDF SDK Library for Every Platform and Language
Give your application the PDF features your users expect without building a PDF engine from scratch. Foxit PDF SDK embeds accurate viewing, editing, annotation, signing, and processing into your product, on every platform your team ships to, in the languages they already write.
Trusted by 700M+ users and 640,000+ organizations worldwide
SDK Capabilities
Everything Your Product Needs to Work with PDFs
This is what ships in the core SDK license, with no extra modules to buy. One license covers the full PDF lifecycle, from rendering a document in your UI to processing thousands of files on a backend.
View & Render
Give users a fast, faithful reading experience: documents render exactly as intended, even the messy ones.
- High-fidelity rendering at any zoom level
- Full-text search across any PDF, language, or encoding
- Multi-page navigation and thumbnail views
- Tuned performance for desktop and mobile hardware
- Out-of-memory handling for very large documents
- Superior font matching and substitution for non-embedded fonts
Edit & Annotate
Let users change and mark up documents in place, without exporting to another tool.
- Full content editing: text, images, and pages
- 15+ annotation types: highlights, notes, stamps, shapes
- Measurement tools with snap-to precision
- Import and export annotations
- Custom stamps and dynamic markup
- Document comparison and redline review
Forms & Signing
Turn static paperwork into fillable, signable, submittable documents inside your app.
- AcroForms and XFA form creation, editing, and fill
- Extract data from filled form fields for system integration
- FDF import and export
- Ink signatures for touch devices
- Digital certificate-based signatures
- DocMDP and certification workflows; signature validation and sealing
Process & Secure
Handle documents at scale and keep sensitive content under control.
- Permanent redaction: true content removal, not visual masking
- Native encryption and decryption
- DRM and IRM integration, including Microsoft RMS
- PDF/A compliance for long-term archival
- Page manipulation: merge, split, reorder, rotate
Platform Coverage
Works on Every Platform Your Product Runs On
Foxit PDF SDK ships as native embedded libraries for every major platform, using the languages and build systems your team already has. No new toolchains, no external services, and no third-party PDF dependencies at runtime.
Windows
PDF library for Windows desktop and server, in 32-bit and 64-bit, with rendering, processing, and automation at enterprise scale.
Languages
Mac
Native macOS library for Apple silicon and Intel, with high-fidelity rendering and annotation in Apple development environments.
Languages
Linux
Library for Linux servers, cloud-native infrastructure, and embedded environments, built for high-volume, resource-efficient pipelines.
Languages
Android
Native Android library with a customizable UI layer and rendering tuned for mobile hardware. Supports offline workflows, low memory usage, annotation, and forms.
Languages
iOS
Native iOS library for iPhone and iPad, with pixel-accurate rendering and customizable annotation that matches your app's design system.
Languages
Web (JavaScript / TypeScript)
Browser-based viewing, annotation, and editing. Foxit's core C/C++ engine is compiled to WebAssembly, so it runs entirely in the browser with no plugins or external rendering services at runtime.
Languages
Why Foxit PDF SDK
Built on 25+ Years of PDF Engineering
Three things separate Foxit PDF SDK from the alternatives when your product depends on documents being right.
Rendering That Holds Up Under Real-World PDFs
Foxit's rendering engine was built in-house, not layered on an open-source library. That gives Foxit direct control over rendering quality, standards compliance, and the fault tolerance to handle malformed PDFs that fail in other SDKs. Foxit participates in the ISO standards process that maintains the PDF specification.
- Superior font matching for non-embedded fonts
- Fault-tolerant rendering for malformed and non-compliant PDFs
- Out-of-memory recovery with minimal user impact
- Supports XFA, AcroForms, PDF/A, and PDF/UA
- Tuned for both desktop precision and mobile performance
Runs Entirely Inside Your Infrastructure
The SDK processes documents locally, in your environment. No runtime calls to Foxit servers, no third-party upload step, and no document data leaves your control. Licensing is fully local with no runtime connection to a Foxit license server, so the SDK fits air-gapped, classified, and no-outbound-traffic deployments.
- No runtime calls to Foxit and no telemetry
- Native PDF encryption and decryption
- Microsoft RMS and custom IRM/DRM integration
- Permanent redaction, not visual masking
- Suitable for air-gapped and no-outbound-traffic environments
One SDK, Consistent Everywhere
The same core library ships on every platform. The object model is consistent whether your team builds on Windows, Android, or in the browser, so knowledge transfers and your codebase stays coherent.
- Single unified core API across all platforms
- Feature parity across Web, Mobile, Desktop, and Server
- One license relationship and one support team
- 25+ years of continuous improvement and backward compatibility
Features & Add-Ons
Extend the SDK with Specialized Capabilities
These are optional licensed modules for specialized workloads. You add only the ones your compliance, security, or high-volume processing requirements call for, and you pay for nothing you do not use.
Compliance & Archival
Security & Content Control
Advanced Processing
XFA Forms
Render, fill, and submit dynamic Adobe LiveCycle XFA documents. Add-on module, all platforms.
ExploreOptimization & Compression
Reduce file sizes with image optimization and MRC compression for lower transmission and storage cost. Add-on for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Document Comparison
Detect changes between versions across text, annotations, and layout. Built for legal review, contracts, and compliance.
3D PDF Interaction
Render and interact with embedded 3D models inside PDFs for engineering and technical documentation. Available on non-mobile platforms.
Conversion Add-On
Convert Office files to PDF inside your own infrastructure. Best fidelity with MS Office installed; LibreOffice is supported as an alternative. Requires the main PDF SDK.
Need bidirectional conversion, including PDF to Office?
See the standalone Foxit Conversion SDK — no extra components required.
Plugins & Open Source Solutions
Cross-Platform Framework Support
These are drop-in extensions your team enables as needs grow, at no added license cost. Open-source plugins bring the SDK to Flutter, React Native, Kotlin, WebPDF.JS, Xamarin, and Cordova, each with a GitHub repository, developer guide, and sample projects.
Resources
Everything You Need to Evaluate and Build
Live Demo
Try the SDK in Your Browser, No Download Required
The Foxit Web SDK demo lets you explore PDF viewing, annotation, and form capabilities live in your browser before you start a trial.
Standards & Compliance
The PDF specifications and form standards the SDK reads, renders, and writes.
Common Questions About Foxit PDF SDK
Quick answers to the questions teams ask most when evaluating an embedded PDF library.
Get Started
Ready to Build with Foxit PDF SDK?
Start a free 30-day trial with full SDK access across your chosen platforms, or talk to a specialist who can help scope your integration and answer technical questions.