PDF to DXF Converter for LibreCAD

BlueCollar Systems -- BUILT. NOT BOUGHT.

Converts PDF vector drawings to DXF format for use with LibreCAD, AutoCAD, DraftSight, QCAD, and any DXF-compatible CAD software.

Features

• Extracts lines, polylines, arcs, circles, rectangles, and closed loops
• Preserves stroke colors, line widths, and dash patterns
• Imports text with font size and rotation
• Text rendering always at maximum fidelity (no quality dials)
• Professional import (GUI): Auto mode only — picks vector/raster/hybrid per page internally
• CLI/batch modes (BCS-ARCH-001): Auto, Vector, Raster, Hybrid for scripting
• 2D text (GUI): Labels (editable DXF TEXT) or Outlines (skip editable text). LibreCAD has no true 3D text; see COMPATIBILITY.md
• Maximum fidelity by default -- no quality tiers, no fast-mode compromises
• Organizes geometry into DXF layers (per-page and per-OCG)
• Outputs DXF versions from R12 through R2018
• CLI and GUI interfaces (including no-console Windows launcher)
• Optional native LibreCAD Plugins menu integration (no terminal)
• Optional auto-open in LibreCAD after conversion
• Built on pdfcadcore shared extraction engine

Compatibility

See COMPATIBILITY.md for the full host version matrix (LibreCAD 2.2+, Python 3.10+, DXF consumers).

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• PyMuPDF >=1.24,<2.0
• ezdxf >= 1.0

Installation

From release (recommended)

Download the latest LibreCAD-PDF-Importer_vX.Y.Z.zip from Releases, extract, and run pip install -r requirements.txt in the extracted folder.

From source

pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -e .

Optional: install the native LibreCAD menu plugin (Windows):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\plugin\build_install_lcpdf_menu.ps1

CLI Usage

Basic conversion:

python pdf2dxf.py drawing.pdf

Specify output path:

python pdf2dxf.py drawing.pdf output.dxf

Convert specific pages with a mode:

python pdf2dxf.py drawing.pdf --pages 1,3,5 --mode vector --verbose

Force raster mode for scanned PDFs:

python pdf2dxf.py drawing.pdf --mode raster

Target a specific DXF version:

python pdf2dxf.py drawing.pdf --dxf-version R2004

All options:

python pdf2dxf.py input.pdf [output.dxf] [options]

Options:
  --pages 1,2,3          Pages to convert (default: all)
  --mode MODE            auto | vector | raster | hybrid  (default: auto)
  --text-mode MODE       labels | 3d_text | glyphs | geometry  (default: 3d_text)
  --import-text / --no-import-text  Whether to import text at all (default: on)
  --scale 1.0            Scale factor
  --dxf-version VER      R12 | R2000 | R2004 | R2007 | R2010 | R2013 | R2018
  --gui                  Launch GUI instead of CLI
  --verbose              Print progress
  --version              Show version

Per BCS-ARCH-001 Rule 5 the previous quality-tier CLI flags (--strict-text-fidelity, --hatch-mode, --arc-mode, --cleanup-level, --lineweight-mode, --grouping-mode, --raster-dpi, --no-raster-fallback, --no-text, --no-arcs) have been removed. Their consolidated values are applied universally because every mode targets identical "indistinguishable from source" quality.

GUI Usage

Launch the graphical interface:

python pdf2dxf.py --gui

Installed entrypoint:

lcpdf-gui

Or run the GUI directly:

python gui.py

The GUI provides file pickers, professional single-flow import (Auto strategy per page), text choice (Labels or Outlines — LibreCAD is 2D-only), page range input, option checkboxes, a progress bar, a status log, and optional auto-open in LibreCAD. Advanced users can still use CLI --mode and --text-mode (including 3d_text / glyphs).

Windows no-console options:

launch_lcpdf_gui.pyw

or:

lcpdf-guiw

LibreCAD Menu Integration

After running the plugin installer script, restart LibreCAD and use:

• Plugins > PDF Importer (BlueCollar)...
• Plugins > PDF Importer Settings...

This launches the importer GUI directly from LibreCAD without a terminal window.

Batch Import

Convert an entire directory tree of PDFs to DXF:

python -m librecad_pdf_importer.batch_cli "C:\path\to\pdfs" "C:\path\to\out_dxf" --recursive --mode auto --pages all --json batch_report.json

Installed entrypoint:

lcpdf-batch "C:\path\to\pdfs" "C:\path\to\out_dxf" --recursive --mode auto --pages all

QA Smoke Harness

Run a quick automated smoke-test pass on one PDF or a folder:

python -m librecad_pdf_importer.qa_smoke "C:\path\to\pdfs" --mode auto --pages 1 --min-entities 1 --json qa_smoke.json

Import Modes (BCS-ARCH-001)

Every mode targets indistinguishable-from-source fidelity within DXF's capabilities. Modes differ only in extraction strategy, not quality tier.

Mode	When to Use
auto (default)	Picks vector/raster/hybrid per page. Reports what it chose.
vector	Clean vector PDFs (CAD exports, shop drawings).
raster	Scanned or image-only PDFs.
hybrid	Mixed content (vectors + embedded raster).

Text Rendering (orthogonal to mode)

LibreCAD is 2D CAD — there is no true 3D text in DXF or LibreCAD.

Option	GUI	Behavior in DXF export
labels	✅ Default	DXF TEXT entities (MTEXT avoided for LibreCAD)
geometry	✅ Outlines	Skips editable TEXT (outline-only workflow)
3d_text	CLI only	Same as labels in this exporter
glyphs	CLI only	Same as labels until vector-glyph DXF path exists

Plus --import-text / --no-import-text to skip text entirely.

DXF Compatibility

• R12: Maximum compatibility. No true-color, limited linetypes.
• R2000 - R2004: True-color support, standard linetypes.
• R2007 - R2018: Full feature set including lineweights.

The default R2010 output opens in LibreCAD, AutoCAD 2010+, DraftSight, QCAD, and virtually all modern DXF readers.

Project Structure

pdf2dxf.py            CLI entry point
gui.py                Tkinter GUI
dxf_import_engine.py  Pipeline orchestrator
dxf_builder.py        Primitive -> DXF entity mapping
dxf_text_builder.py   Text -> DXF TEXT/MTEXT mapping
pdfcadcore/           Shared PDF extraction core

Known Limitations

Limitation	Details
Encrypted PDFs	Password-protected PDFs must be unlocked before import
Compression filters	Decoding is delegated to PyMuPDF. Malformed or non-standard compressed object streams may fail to parse
Raster-only scans	Pure raster PDFs produce no vector geometry
Clipped/XObject-heavy PDFs	Complex clip stacks and deeply nested form XObjects can produce partial geometry
MTEXT in LibreCAD	LibreCAD has known issues with MTEXT bounding boxes; TEXT fallback is used automatically
Embedded subset fonts	Text using embedded subset fonts may not render correctly
DXF version	R2010 is the recommended default; R12 mode uses TEXT entities only
Legacy hosts	LibreCAD/DXF consumer behavior outside the tested matrix is expected-only until verified

License

MIT License. Copyright (c) 2024-2026 BlueCollar Systems.