Convert PDF to HTML5: Preserving Layout

Whether you’re a developer building a web application or a business looking to digitise a massive archive, you’ve likely struggled to choose the best way to display your documents. So you convert a beautifully designed document to HTML, only to find the fonts are missing, the images have shifted, and the tables are a jumbled mess.

If layout fidelity is your top priority, there is one solution that stands head and shoulders above the rest: BuildVu.

Here is why BuildVu is the industry-leading choice for converting PDF to HTML while keeping your document’s layout intact.

The Challenge: Why Most Solutions Fail

Most PDF-to-HTML tools are not specialised for conversions. They attempt to guess where paragraphs end and where columns begin. Because PDF is a fixed-layout format, this “guessing” leads to:

• Broken Layouts: Overlapping text and misaligned images. The content (sometimes even the text) gets flattened to an image.
• Font Substitution: Your carefully chosen brand fonts are replaced by generic Arial or Times New Roman. This causes additional problems, such as text overlapping and incorrect line lengths.
• Bloated Code: Messy, unreadable HTML that is impossible to maintain. The HTML output also has a larger file size, becoming slower to load in the browser.

Pixel-Perfect Layout Preservation

BuildVu doesn’t try to guess your layout. It treats the PDF as a visual blueprint. By using a sophisticated conversion engine, it reproduces the exact coordinates of every element.

Precision Mapping for Any Industry

Whether you are converting complex architectural drawings, high-end magazines, or technical manuals with intricate diagrams, the HTML output is visually indistinguishable from the original PDF.

Click here to see some samples of the BuildVu conversions.

Advanced Font Conversion

Fonts are one of the biggest hurdles in document conversion. When creating PDF files, authors may choose which fonts to embed inside the PDF file.

Most PDF files contain embedded fonts. It ensures a consistent appearance across platforms, though it is also common to avoid embedding common fonts such as Times New Roman because it reduces the PDF file size.

Navigating Font Licensing and Compliance

Some font licenses are permissive (such as the SIL Open Font License), whilst others are more restrictive. There is no reliable way to tell programmatically what license a font has.

Many font licenses predate the internet, which means there is often no clear answer as to what is or is not allowed. BuildVu is designed to help you navigate these legal grey areas through specialised output settings.

Customizable Text Modes

BuildVu handles fonts differently depending on which Text Mode is used:

• shapetext_nonselectable modes: BuildVu displays a flattened version of the fonts, which avoids writing out any font files. Text selection is not possible in this mode.
• shapetext_selectable modes: BuildVu displays a flattened version of the fonts in addition to writing out a license-safe version of the fonts, which is used for text selection purposes. The license-safe version of the fonts contains only width information.
• realtext modes: BuildVu writes out any embedded font files as part of the conversion.

Intelligent Fallback System

When PDF files use fonts that are not embedded, BuildVu ensures your document remains readable and professional by using high-quality open-source fallback fonts, including:

• Liberation Serif & Liberation Sans
• Noto Sans Condensed & Noto Sans Symbols2
• Tex Gyre Cursor
• GNU Unifont
• Anton

Efficient Asset Management

To keep file sizes small and performance high, BuildVu uses smart logic for font output:

• Shared Fonts: When embedded fonts are shared by multiple pages in the PDF file, BuildVu will only write out a single copy of the font.
• Versioning and Mapping: If BuildVu writes out multiple font files with similar names, it is because the PDF file stores different versions of the font with the same name or because the font maps multiple glyphs onto the same extraction value (which requires a new copy of the font).

High Performance with Small File Sizes

A common fear with high-fidelity conversion is massive file sizes. BuildVu uses an optimised SVG/HTML5 hybrid approach.

Optimisation Through Hybrid Tech

• SVG for Graphics: Vector graphics stay crisp at any zoom level.
• HTML for Text: Text remains real text, making it SEO-friendly and searchable without the weight of a giant image file.

Standard Converters vs BuildVu

The table below shows the main differences between a standard converter and a developer tool like BuildVu:

Built for Developers

Unlike black-box online tools, BuildVu is a developer-first library. It integrates seamlessly into your existing stack.

Enterprise-Grade Integration

• Java SDK / REST API: Automate conversions at scale.
• Self-Hosted: Keep your data secure on your own servers—no need to send sensitive documents to a third-party cloud.
• Customizable Viewer: Use the IDRViewer to provide a professional magazine-style or continuous scroll reading experience directly in the browser.

Trial BuildVu for free

If you need your web-based documents to look exactly like their printed counterparts, BuildVu is the tool that delivers the necessary precision. It bridges the gap between the rigid structure of a PDF and the flexibility of the modern web.