scConverter Conversion SDK
Convert and compare PDF, DWF, TIFF, CALS, PLT, Gerber, CGM, and others
scConverter™ can convert PDF, DWF,
Gerber, CGM, TIFF,
CALS, PLT,
HEIC, PNG and JPEG
files to a wide range of output formats.
Supported export formats include Adobe PDF, PDF/A, DXF,
DWF, CALS, TIFF, PLT,
and PNG, among others.
A complete list of all supported input and output formats is provided below.
You have full control over the conversion process and can configure scaling, resolution, the number of colors to use, and more through the available methods and properties. You can also define pen tables to control colors, line widths, line styles, and line end styles.
Markup, also known as comments or annotations, can be added to the converted file. A comprehensive set of annotation types is available, including text, stamps, barcodes, polylines, polygons, rectangles, circles, ellipses, and images.
With scConverter, you can merge multiple PDF files into a single multipage PDF document. You can merge all pages from the different PDF files or only selected pages. In addition, scConverter includes a function for splitting a multipage PDF file into multiple PDF files containing one or more pages each.
With the PDF to CAD functionality you can convert your PDF files into editable DXF, HPGL/2, Gerber, CGM and SVG file formats.
Build your application with ScConverter
You may use scConverter in any development environment that does support COM (Component Object Model).
These environments do include .NET,
C#, VB, C++, MFC, Delphi, ASPX and many others.
If your application or development environment does not support COM, you can call the DLL export functions directly.
This provides a flexible alternative for integrating the functionality using standard function calls.
scConverter provides more than 150 methods, properties and exported functions that may be used by your application.
The SDK contains several source code examples, including command line converters, a complete batch converter and an application for merging several individual PDF files into a new multipage PDF file.
Licensing
A developer license is required to use and redistribute scConverter.
- One developer license grants you the right to develop and distribute one application that integrates scConverter to an unlimited number of end users without any additional fees. Using scConverter as part of a web server solution counts as one application.
- The SDK is available as both 32-bit and 64-bit.
Only one developer license is required if your application is available in both 32 and 64 bit. - There are no royalties or other redistribution costs.
Key Features
- Convert Adobe PDF files.
- Convert Autodesk DWF 2D files.
- Convert Autodesk DWFx 2D files.
- Convert TIFF, CALS, PNG, JPEG, HEIC, AVIF, JPEG-XL and BMP image formats.
- Convert PLT, HPGL, HPGL/2, KIPGL and HP-RTL files.
- Convert CGM files.
- Convert Calcomp plotter files.
- Convert Gerber plotter files.
- Convert your files into PDF, PDF/A, DWF, DXF, CGM, Gerber, TIFF, JPEG, PNG and other formats.
- Use the Software Companions XML Markup format to add annotations to the converted files.
- Compare two files and save the comparison result as PDF, PNG, TIFF or JPEG.
- Merge PDF files into a single multi-page PDF file.
- Add Watermarks to PDF files. A C# code example is available in our GitHub Gist.
- Create searchable PDF files from scanned image or PDF files by using the Tesseract OCR engine.
- Use the PDF to CAD functionality to create editable CAD files from PDF files. A C# code example is available in our GitHub Gist.
- Split a multi-page PDF file into multiple PDF files with one or more pages.
- Split a multi-page TIFF file into multiple single page TIFF files.
- Conform, or convert, an existing PDF file into PDF/A standard.
- Encrypt a PDF file with a custom password.
- Convert one or more Gerber files to an image or a vector file. Each Gerber file/layer will be drawn with an user defined color.
- Optimize an existing PDF file.
- Create a digitally signed copy of a PDF file using a certificate file.
- Create vector PDF files from PLT, DWF, DWFX, Gerber or CGM files. Layers are included if available in the source file.
- Compress files using Brotli, gzip, bzip2 and zstd compression methods.
- Use advanced image processing tools like Resize, Deskew, Cleanup and Defox.
- Detect QR codes in PDF, TIFF, PNG and other image format files.
- Create ZUGFeRD-compliant PDF/A-3 invoices by embedding XML invoice data into a standard PDF file (EN 16931).
- Extract a thumbnail of a page either to an image file, or by using the IPicture interface (image in memory).
scConverter can convert from the following file formats:
- Adobe PDF
- Autodesk DWF 2D
- Autodesk DWFx 2D
- Autodesk Inventor Drawings (IDW)1
- AVIF
- Calcomp plotter format
- CALS Type 1
- Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM)2
- EDMICS image format (TG4)
- Excellon Drill
- Gerber RS-274D (standard)
- Gerber RS-274X (extended)
- Gerber X2
- GIF
- HEIC / HEIF
- HPGL, HPGL/2, PLT, KIPGL and HP-RTL
- Intergraph image formats
- JPEG
- JPEG2000
- JPEG XL
- PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
- PSD (Adobe Photoshop)
- TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)3
- WEBP Google Image Format
- Windows BMP
1. Support for Autodesk Inventor IDW file format requires Autodesk Apprentice Server to be installed on the same computer.
You may download the free Autodesk Apprentice Server 2027 here.
2. Supports CGM files using binary and clear text encoding. Supported profiles includes ATA, CALS, WEBCGM and CGM*PIP.
3. Supported TIFF compression methods: Uncompressed, Packbits, LZW, Deflate, JPEG, CCITT G3 and G4.
- Microsoft® Excel
- Microsoft® PowerPoint
- Microsoft® Word
- OpenOffice Document Format
- RTF (Rich Text Format)
- Lotus Word Pro 1
- Microsoft Visio 1
- SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) 1
- WordPerfect 1
1. This file format is only supported when LibreOffice is installed.
scConverter can convert into the following file formats:
- Adobe PDF
- Adobe PDF/A1
- Adobe Postscript™
- Autodesk DWF
- Autodesk DXF
- AVIF
- CALS CCITT Group 4 Raster (Type 1)
- Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM Binary)
- Excellon Drill
- Gerber RS-274X
- HEIC / HEIF
- HPGL/2 (PLT)
- JPEG
- JPEG2000
- JPEG XL
- Paintbrush PCX
- Portable Network Graphics (PNG)
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
- TIFF
- WEBP Google Image Format
- Windows Bitmap
- Windows Enhanced Metafile
- Windows Metafile
1. The following PDF/A output variants are supported: PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-3b, PDF/A-2u, PDF/A-3u, PDF/A-4 and PDF/A-4e.
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Supported Operating Systems
- Windows 7, 32 and 64 bit
- Windows 8, 32 and 64 bit
- Windows 8.1, 32 and 64 bit
- Windows 10, 32 and 64 bit
- Windows 11
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2019
- Windows Server 2022
- Windows Server 2025
- Supports Terminal Server and Citrix
Tutorials
How to use scConverter in .NETHow to add annotations to converted files
How to compare PDF, DWF, TIFF and other formats
How to convert Gerber files to PDF, DXF, TIFF or PNG
Advanced image processing using scConverter
Sample Code
Description of all Sample Code included in the SDK
GitHub Sample Code Repositry
GitHub GIST Repositry
Sample Code available in the Support Forum
Support
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Support Forum
scConverter Documentation
AI Agent Support
scConverter provides an AI-readable tool schema (yaml) generated from the documentation.
This schema allows AI systems (such as ChatGPT or OpenAI-based agents) to
generate accurate scConverter code without guessing method names or parameters.
scConverter AI Schema (GitHub YAML)
