Python Script for Compressing PDFs using Ghostscript: This script enables users to easily compress PDF files by utilizing the Ghostscript tool. It offers different quality settings for compression, catering to various needs for file size reduction. The script includes detailed documentation and instructions for installing Ghostscript on differen…

pdf_compressor_ghostscript.py

"""
PDF Compressor using Ghostscript

This script allows the user to compress PDF files using Ghostscript. It provides
options to set the compression quality.

Requirements:
- Python 3.x
- Ghostscript installed on the system

Installation of Ghostscript:
- Windows: Download and install from https://www.ghostscript.com/download/gsdnld.html.
  Make sure to add the bin directory to your PATH.
- Linux (Ubuntu/Debian): Install using `sudo apt-get install ghostscript`.
- macOS: Install using `brew install ghostscript` if you have Homebrew installed.

Usage:
Run the script from the command line with the PDF file path and optionally, the quality setting.
Example: `python pdf_compressor_ghostscript.py input.pdf --quality ebook`

Available quality settings are 'screen', 'ebook', 'printer', and 'prepress'.
If no quality setting is specified, 'screen' will be used by default.
"""

import argparse
import subprocess

def compress_pdf_with_ghostscript(input_path, output_path, quality):
    """
    Compresses a PDF file using Ghostscript.

    Args:
    input_path (str): Path to the input PDF file.
    output_path (str): Path where the compressed PDF will be saved.
    quality (str): Quality setting for compression ('screen', 'ebook', 'printer', 'prepress').
    """
    subprocess.call(['gs', '-sDEVICE=pdfwrite', '-dCompatibilityLevel=1.4',
                     '-dPDFSETTINGS=/' + quality, '-dNOPAUSE', '-dQUIET', '-dBATCH',
                     '-sOutputFile=' + output_path, input_path])

def main():
    """
    Main function to parse command line arguments and call the PDF compression function.
    """
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="Compress a PDF file using Ghostscript.")
    parser.add_argument("input_file", help="Path to the input PDF file")
    parser.add_argument("-q", "--quality", choices=['screen', 'ebook', 'printer', 'prepress'], default="screen",
                        help="Quality setting for the output PDF (default: screen)")

    args = parser.parse_args()

    # Generate output file name by appending '-min' before the file extension
    output_file = args.input_file.rsplit('.', 1)[0] + '-min.pdf'
    compress_pdf_with_ghostscript(args.input_file, output_file, args.quality)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()