# dvipdfmx - produce PDF files directly from DVI files - man(1) - [phpMan] *Source: tldr-pages* --- [_DVIPDFMX_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DVIPDFMX/1/markdown) General Commands Manual [_DVIPDFMX_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DVIPDFMX/1/markdown) ## NAME dvipdfmx, xdvipdfmx, dvipdfm - produce PDF files directly from DVI files ## SYNOPSIS **dvipdfmx **or **dvipdfm **[_options_] _file_[**.dvi**] ## DESCRIPTION The program **dvipdfmx **generates a PDF file from a DVI file. DVI files are the output produced by TeX. **groff **can also generate DVI files using **grodvi**(-Tdvi). In TeX Live, **dvipdfm **is another incarnation of **dvipdfmx **rather than a separate program. Com‐ patibility is attempted as best as possible. **xdvipdfmx **is another incarnation. It is used as the back end for [**xetex**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xetex/1/markdown) and is not in‐ tended to be invoked directly. **dvipdfmx **recognizes several commonly used **\special **commands, which are extensions to the DVI format. Specifically, it understands color specials, papersize specials, tpic specials (which allow it to be used with **pic**), hypertex specials, and some PostScript specials. These extensions allow documents to contain color, figures, and hyperlinks. The program tries to mimic the behavior of **dvips **where possible, so that many macro packages produced for use with **dvips **will also work with **dvipdfmx**. In addition, **dvipdfmx **understands its own specific **\spe‐** **cial **commands to allow access to PDF features such as annotations and bookmarks. As of December 2018, one such special specific to **dvipdfmx **is _pdf:trailerid_, which specifies the /ID in the PDF trailer. It is used like this (from the TeX level): \special{pdf:trailerid [ (0123456789abcdef) (01234567890abcdef) ]} That is, the special takes an array (the square brackets) of two 16-byte PDF strings (the parentheses). This is the same syntax as LuaTeX's _\pdfvariable_ _trailerid_, while different from pdfTeX's _\pdftrailerid_. It must appear on the first output page, otherwise it is ig‐ nored. Unrecognized specials will generate warning messages. Packages that may need a **dvipdfm **or **dvipdfmx **driver option include _geometry_, _hyperref_, _bookmark_, _graphicx_, and _xcolor_. For issues related to bounding boxes (and hence image sizes), see [**extractbb**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/extractbb/1/markdown). ## OPTIONS Unlike with many other programs, argument values must be separated from option names by a space, not an = sign; option names cannot be abbreviated; and - and -- cannot be used inter‐ changeably. ### -c mally (changeable in the configuration file). The **-c **option may be used to produce a black and white document from a document containing color TeX **\special **commands. ### --dvipdfm Enable **dvipdfm **emulation mode. This is the default if the executable name is `dvipdfm'. ### -d number Specify the number of decimal digits in the PDF output; must be between 0 and 5, default is 2. ### -e ### -f map_file Read the font map file given by _map_file_. The default map file in TeX Live is _pdf‐_ _tex.map_, as defined in the configuration file. ### --help Show a help message and exit successfully. ### -i cfgfile Read _cfgfile_ as another include file, after reading the default _dvipdfmx.cfg_. ### --kpathsea-debug number Have Kpathsea output debugging information; `-1' for everything (voluminous). ### -l ### -m mag Magnify the input document by _mag_. ### -o filename Set the PDF output file name; use `-' for stdout. By default, the name of the output file is derived from the input, that is, _file_.pdf. ### -p paper Select the papersize by name (e.g., **letter**, **legal**, **ledger**, **tabloid**, **a3**, **a4**, or **a5 **) ### --pdfm-str-utf8 Assume PDFMark strings in **\special **commands are encoded in UTF-8. ### -q ### -r size Set resolution of bitmapped fonts to **size **dots per inch. Bitmapped fonts are generated by the Kpathsea library, which uses Metafont. Bitmapped fonts are included as Type 3 fonts in the PDF output file. Default is 600. ### -s page_specifications Select the pages of the DVI file to be processed; default is `-', meaning all pages. The _page_specifications_ consists of a comma separated list of _page_ranges_: _page_specifications_ _:=_ _page_specification_[,_page_specifications_] where _page_specification_ _:=_ _single_page_|_page_range_ _page_range_ _:=_ [_first_page_]-[_last_page_] An empty _first_page_ is treated as the first page of the DVI file, and an empty _last_page_ is treated as the last page of the DVI file. Examples: **-s 1,3,5** includes pages 1, 3, and 5; **-s - **includes all pages; **-s -,-** includes two copies of all pages in the DVI file; and **-s 1-10** includes the first ten pages of the DVI file. ### -t ment variable. The thumbnail images must be named in a specific format: the same base name as the DVI file and the page number as the extension to the file name. **dvipdfmx** does not generate such thumbnails itself, but it is distributed with a wrapper program named **dvipdft **that does so. ### --version Show a help message and exit successfully. ### -v -v -vv verbosity by two increments). Maximum verbosity is four. ### -x x_offset Set the left margin to _x_offset_. The default left margin is **1.0in**. The dimension may be specified in any units understood by TeX (e.g., **bp**, **pt**, **in**, **cm**). ### -y y_offset Set the top margin to _y_offset_. The default top margin is **1.0in**. The dimension may be specified in any units understood by TeX (e.g., **bpt**, **pt**, **in**, **cm**). ### -z number Set the compression level to _compression_level_. Compression levels range from 0 (no compression) to 9 (maximum compression) and correspond to the values understood by zlib; default is 9. ### -C number Miscellaneous option flags; see the --help output for details. ### -D template PostScript to PDF conversion command line template; the default is taken from the con‐ figuration file, which also gives all the details and mentions several possibilities. ### -E ### -I number Image cache life in hours; default is -2, meaning to not cache images at all. A value of -1 means to erase all old images and also new images; 0 means to erase all old images but leave new images. ### -K number Encryption key length; default 40. ### -M ### -O number Set maximum depth of open bookmark items; default 0. ### -P number Set permission flags for PDF encryption; default 0x003C. ### -S ### -V number Set PDF minor version; default 5 (from the configuration file). ## IMAGE BOUNDING BOXES When including images with **dvipdfmx**, their bounding boxes should be generated by running **ex‐** **tractbb**. The result will be in an **.xbb **file; the xbb information is the same as for the PDF format. ## ENVIRONMENT **dvipdfmx **uses the **kpathsea **library for locating the files that it opens. Hence, the environ‐ ment variables documented in the _Kpathsea_ _library_ documentation influence **dvipdfmx**. It also uses the value of the environment variable TMPDIR as the directory to search for thumbnail images of each page. ## FILES The precise location of the following files is determined by the _Kpathsea_ _library_ configura‐ tion. The location may be determined by using kpsewhich, e.g., ### kpsewhich -progname=dvipdfmx -format='other text files' dvipdfmx.cfg _dvipdfmx.cfg_ Default configuration file _dvipdfmx-unsafe.cfg_ Configuration file that runs Ghostscript without safety checks; use only for trusted source files. It is currently required to use PSTricks with XeTeX: **xetex -output-dri‐** **ver="xdvipdfmx -i dvipdfmx-unsafe.cfg -q -E" ...** _pdftex.map_ The default font map file (this may be changed in the config file). _*.tfm_ TeX font metrics _*.vf_ TeX virtual font files _*.pfb_ PostScript Type 1 font files _texmf.cnf_ The Kpathsea library configuration file. The location of this file may be found by typ‐ ing **kpsewhich texmf.cnf** ## SEE ALSO [dvipdft(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dvipdft/1/markdown), [extractbb(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/extractbb/1/markdown), [tex(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tex/1/markdown), [luatex(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/luatex/1/markdown), [xetex(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xetex/1/markdown), [dvips(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dvips/1/markdown), [groff(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/groff/1/markdown), [grodvi(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/grodvi/1/markdown), [pic(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pic/1/markdown), the Kpathsea library Info documentation (‐ sea), and the Dvipdfmx User's Manual (in the distribution, and linked from ). ## AUTHOR Primarily Mark A. Wicks; dvipdfmx extensions primarily by Jin-Hwan Cho, Shunsaku Hirata, and Matthias Franz. For the version in TeX Live, please send bugs and other reports to the main‐ tainers at dvipdfmx (at) tug.org (). This man page edited for TeX Live by Bob Tennent and others. This man page is public domain. 1 June 2021 [_DVIPDFMX_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DVIPDFMX/1/markdown)