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Sometimes, when you upload large, content-intensive PDF or AI files to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Assets, the default library may not generate an accurate output. In such cases, Adobe's PDF Rasterizer library can help generate reliable and accurate output compared to what you could earlier generate using the default library.

Adobe recommends using the PDF Rasterizer library for the following:

  • Heavy, content intensive AI/PDF files
  • AI/PDF files with thumbnails not generated out of the box
  • AI files with Pantone Matching System (PMS) colors

Thumbnails and previews generated using PDF Rasterizer are better in quality compared to out-of-the-box output and, therefore, provide consistent viewing experience across devices. The Adobe PDF Rasterizer library does not support any color space conversion. It always outputs to RGB irrespective of the color space of the source file.

  1. Install the PDF Rasterizer package on your AEM instance from Package Share.


    The PDF Rasterizer library is currently available for Windows and Linux only.


  3. Open the DAM Update Asset workflow page.

  4. Configure the following to skip the default thumbnail and web rendition generation for PDF/AI files:

    • Open the Process Thumbnails step, and add application/pdf or application/postscript in the Skip Mime Types field under the Thumbnails tab as necessary.
    • In the Web Enabled Image tab, add application/pdf or application/postscript under Skip List depending upon your requirements.
  5. Open the Rasterize PDF/AI Image Preview Rendition step, and remove the MIME type for which you want to skip the default generation of preview image renditions. For example, remove the MIME type application/pdf , application/postscript , or application/illustrator from the MIME Types list.

  6. Drag the PDF Rasterizer Handler step from the sidekick to below the Process Thumbnails step.

  7. Configure the following arguments for the PDF Rasterizer Handler step:

    • Mime Types: application/pdf or application/postscript
    • Commands: PDFRasterizer -d -p 1 -s 1280 -t PNG -i ${file}
    • Add Thumbnail sizes: 319:319, 140:100, 48:48. Add custom thumbnail configuration, if required.

    The command line arguments for the PDFRasterizer command can include the following:

    -d: Flag to enable smooth rendering of text, vector artwork, and images. Creates better quality images. However, including this parameter causes the command to run slowly and increase the size of images.

    -p: Page number. Default value is all pages. '*' denotes all pages.

    -s: Maximum image dimension (height or width). This is converted to DPI for each page. If pages are of different size, each may potentially scale by different amount. The default is actual page size.

    -t: Output image type. Valid types are JPEG, PNG, GIF and BMP. The default value is JPEG.

    -i: Path for input PDF. You must set this parameter.

    -h: Help

  8. Select Delete Generated Rendition to delete intermediate renditions.

  9. Select Generate Web Rendition to enable the generation of web renditions.

  10. Specify the settings in the Web Enabled Image tab.

  11. Save the workflow.

  12. Upload a PDF or AI file to AEM Assets. PDF Rasterizer generates the thumbnails and web renditions for the file.


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