---
name: "pdf123-decompress-pdf"
description: "Reverse PDF stream compression for inspection or editing. Runs the PDF123 \"Decompress PDF\" tool (pdf123.xyz) over its REST API with curl, no account needed. Use when the user wants this done to their file. Also known as: 解压缩 PDF, Descomprimir PDF, PDF संपीड़न खोलें, فك ضغط PDF, Dekompres PDF, Décompresser le PDF, Распаковать PDF, PDFの展開, PDF dekomprimieren, PDF 압축 풀기, Gỡ nén luồng PDF, PDF sıkıştırmasını aç, 解壓縮 PDF, Decomprimi PDF, คลายบีบอัด PDF, Dekompresuj PDF, Розпакувати PDF, PDF decomprimeren, Nyahmampat PDF, Dekomprimera PDF, Αποσυμπίεση PDF, Декомпресиране на PDF, Descomprimeix PDF, Fungua ubanaji wa PDF."
compatibility: "Needs curl 7.76+ and outbound HTTPS to pdf123.xyz, or PDFX_API_BASE pointing at a self-hosted pdfx-server."
---

# Decompress PDF (PDF123)

Reverse PDF stream compression for inspection or editing.

Web version: https://pdf123.xyz/decompress-pdf · All tools: https://pdf123.xyz/skills/pdf123.md

## When to use

- Make a PDF easier to grep as QDF
- Disable object streams before a picky downstream parser
- Inspect content streams without a binary dump

## Run it

Replace the sample file names and values with the user's, then run:

```bash
API="${PDFX_API_BASE:-https://pdf123.xyz}"
curl -sS --fail-with-body -X POST "$API/api/v1/misc/decompress-pdf" \
  -F "fileInput=@input.pdf" \
  --output-dir "pdf123-output/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" --create-dirs -OJ -w '%{filename_effective} %{content_type}\n'
```

## Inputs

Everything is `multipart/form-data`. The command above already sends each field with its default; keep them all and change only the values the user asked for, since some endpoints reject a missing optional field.

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `fileInput` | file | yes | | .pdf (one file) |

## Result

curl saves the result in a new `pdf123-output/<timestamp>/` directory under the server's file name and prints its path and content type. Several output files come back as one ZIP. Tell the user where the file is.

## Limits

- Usually larger
- Not a general decompressor of payloads
- Password-protected files need the password; API callers run Unlock first
- Upload limit on this website: 500 MB per file, sent in chunks above about 95 MB. A single direct API request body is capped at 100 MB.

## Errors

- A non-zero curl exit means the request failed. The saved file then holds `application/problem+json`; read it and report its `detail` to the user instead of retrying blindly.
- `413`: the upload exceeds 100 MiB. `429`: wait for `Retry-After` seconds, then retry once.
- Send `X-API-KEY: $PDFX_API_KEY` only if the user has a PDF123 API key; anonymous calls work without it.

## Privacy

Files are uploaded to the API host, processed, and deleted once the response is sent. For confidential files, ask before uploading, or use a self-hosted server via `PDFX_API_BASE`.