A PDF stream object is an arbitrary long sequence of octets characterized by a set of properties. The properties of a stream object are specified by a dictionary that appears just before the stream in the PDF file. Unlike strings, a stream can be read incrementally and can be of unlimited length. All streams must be indirect objects. When you need to compress PDF, maybe you can try to compress those stream objects. VeryPDF PDF Toolbox Command Line can be used to compress PDF stream objects. In the following part, I will show you how to use this software.
Step 1. Download PDF Toolbox
- There are three versions of this software: Mac, Linux and Windows. They are same in functions and more or less in usage. When you download it, please download the right version according to your computer system.
- Once downloading finishes, there will be an zip file in downloading folder. Please extract it to some folder and then check executable file in sub folder bin.
Step 2. Compress PDF stream objects
- When you use this software, please obey the syntax as this software is a little complicated in functions. There are too many functions and parameter of it.
Usage: pdftoolbox <input files> [options] <-outfile output >
- When you need to compress stream objects in PDF file, please refer to the following command line template.
pdftoolbox "sample_in1.pdf" -outfile "_pack_out.pdf" –pack
-pack :this parameter can be used to compress stream objects in a PDF file. - After compression, if you feel that you need to check the compressed stream objects, by this software, you can compress it. Please refer to the following command line template.
\pdftoolbox "sample_in1.pdf" -outfile "_pack_out.pdf" –unpack
-unpack : uncompress stream objects in a PDF file.
So once you own this software, you can compress and uncompress stream objects in PDF file casually. And there are also other functions stated in this software. As there are too many to be detailed, I will list part of them.
-removexfa : by this parameter, you can remove /XFA tag from PDF file.
-showinfo : when you need to show information after processing, please add this parameter.
-silent : if you do NOT show any information during processing, which means do the silent conversion, please add this parameter.
-prompt :when you need to prompt information during processing, please add this parameter.
During the using, if you have any question, please contact us as soon as possible.