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Chrome Rendering Engine EAP - A Game Changer for PDF Generation

Chrome PDF Rendering Engine in C#

Curtis Chau
Curtis Chau
Updated:

IronPDF's Chrome rendering engine enables C# developers to convert HTML to high-quality PDFs using Chromium's powerful rendering technology. Create invoices, reports, or documentation with code that leverages Google Chrome's rendering engine, ensuring PDFs maintain exact HTML appearance with full support for modern web standards.

Chromium is an open-source web browser project developed by Google. It serves as the foundation for Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and other browsers. By utilizing Chromium's Blink rendering engine, IronPDF ensures pixel-perfect accuracy when converting HTML to PDF in your .NET applications.

Quickstart: Render HTML to PDF with IronPDF in Seconds

Get started with IronPDF's Chrome rendering engine to convert HTML to PDFs quickly. With just a few lines of code, leverage Chromium's technology to produce pixel-perfect PDF documents. This guide demonstrates the simplicity of rendering HTML content using IronPDF, focusing on ease of use and rapid implementation. IronPDF integrates seamlessly with existing .NET projects, offering reliable high-performance solutions for modern web and application development.

Nuget IconGet started making PDFs with NuGet now:

  1. Install IronPDF with NuGet Package Manager

    PM > Install-Package IronPdf

  2. Copy and run this code snippet.

    using IronPdf;

// Create a new ChromePdfRenderer instance
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Render HTML string to PDF
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello, World!</h1>");

// Save the PDF to disk
pdf.SaveAs("HelloWorld.pdf");

  3. Deploy to test on your live environment

    Start using IronPDF in your project today with a free trial
    arrow pointer

Minimal Workflow (5 steps)

  1. Download the C# library to use the Chrome PDF rendering engine
  2. Utilize the intuitive APIs and build structure
  3. Generate pixel-perfect PDF documents
  4. Use asynchronous operations for performance
  5. Discover what is next on the function list


What Are the Key Benefits of IronPDF's Chrome Rendering Engine?

Why Does High-Quality Rendering Matter?

The latest "Blink!" HTML rendering offers Chrome Identical rendering or Enhanced Rendering (which provides more accurate and easier-to-code results than Chrome). When generating PDFs for professional use, rendering quality directly impacts document readability, brand representation, and user experience. IronPDF's Chrome rendering engine ensures complex layouts, modern CSS features, and dynamic JavaScript content render accurately, matching browser display.

How Much Faster Is the Performance?

Provides effortless multithreading and Async, using as many CPU cores as needed. For SAAS and high-load applications, expect 5-20 times faster performance compared to direct browser usage and web-drivers. Performance improvements are particularly noticeable when generating PDF reports in batch processing scenarios or high-traffic web applications where response time is critical.

What Technologies Are Fully Supported?

Full support for JavaScript, responsive layout, and CSS3.
Azure as a first-class citizen. It just works.
Continued maintenance and improved full support for .NET 8, 7, 6, 5, Core, and Framework 4.6.2+.

The engine supports advanced features like:

  • Modern CSS Grid and Flexbox layouts
  • Web fonts and icon fonts
  • SVG graphics and Canvas elements
  • Complex JavaScript frameworks (React, Angular, Vue.js)
  • Media queries and responsive design
  • CSS animations and transitions

For developers working with Bootstrap, Flex, and CSS, IronPDF provides comprehensive support ensuring styled content renders perfectly in PDF format.

How Reliable Is the Testing Process?

The release passed 1156 green unit & integration tests (and no red ones). This EAP is as stable as our main release, with active daily improvements. Our rigorous testing process covers various scenarios including complex HTML structures, different character encodings, various paper sizes, and edge cases encountered in production environments.

Does It Support Accessibility Standards?

Produces accessible PDFs using the PDF(UA) tagged PDF standard. This ensures documents comply with accessibility requirements and can be properly read by screen readers. Learn more about creating PDF/UA compliant documents for better accessibility.

How Can I Provide Feedback?

We welcome your feedback. Contact support@ironsoftware.com with ideas or if you need help. Your feedback helps us prioritize features and improvements that matter most to our developer community.

Implement in Your Project

How Do I Install IronPDF?

First, install IronPDF into your project from NuGet Package Manager using IronPdf. The installation process is straightforward and can be completed using various methods depending on your development environment.

# Using Package Manager Console
Install-Package IronPdf

# Using .NET CLI
dotnet add package IronPdf

# Using PackageReference in your .csproj file
<PackageReference Include="IronPdf" Version="*" />
# Using Package Manager Console
Install-Package IronPdf

# Using .NET CLI
dotnet add package IronPdf

# Using PackageReference in your .csproj file
<PackageReference Include="IronPdf" Version="*" />
SHELL

After installation, add the appropriate using statement at the top of your C# files:

using IronPdf;
using IronPdf;
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

For advanced installation scenarios, including deployment to Azure or running in Docker containers, refer to our comprehensive installation guides.

How Do I Use the New API?

We haven't broken the previous IronPDF C# and VB.NET API you're already using. It will remain! However, the old style is being superseded by a better one to give you more control. The new API provides a more intuitive and flexible approach to PDF generation with enhanced configuration options.

using IronPdf;

// Create a renderer with custom options
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Configure rendering options
renderer.RenderingOptions.CssMediaType = IronPdf.Rendering.CssMediaType.Screen;
renderer.RenderingOptions.PrintHtmlBackgrounds = true;
renderer.RenderingOptions.CreatePdfFormsFromHtml = true;

// Set paper size and margins
renderer.RenderingOptions.PaperSize = IronPdf.Rendering.PdfPaperSize.A4;
renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginTop = 25;
renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginBottom = 25;
renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginLeft = 20;
renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginRight = 20;

// Set HTTP credentials if needed for protected resources
renderer.RenderingOptions.HttpLoginCredentials = new IronPdf.HttpLoginCredentials()
{
    Username = "yourUsername",
    Password = "yourPassword"
};

// Render HTML to PDF
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Professional Document</h1><p>Generated with IronPDF</p>");
pdf.SaveAs("ProfessionalDocument.pdf");
using IronPdf;

// Create a renderer with custom options
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Configure rendering options
renderer.RenderingOptions.CssMediaType = IronPdf.Rendering.CssMediaType.Screen;
renderer.RenderingOptions.PrintHtmlBackgrounds = true;
renderer.RenderingOptions.CreatePdfFormsFromHtml = true;

// Set paper size and margins
renderer.RenderingOptions.PaperSize = IronPdf.Rendering.PdfPaperSize.A4;
renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginTop = 25;
renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginBottom = 25;
renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginLeft = 20;
renderer.RenderingOptions.MarginRight = 20;

// Set HTTP credentials if needed for protected resources
renderer.RenderingOptions.HttpLoginCredentials = new IronPdf.HttpLoginCredentials()
{
    Username = "yourUsername",
    Password = "yourPassword"
};

// Render HTML to PDF
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Professional Document</h1><p>Generated with IronPDF</p>");
pdf.SaveAs("ProfessionalDocument.pdf");
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

For more information on rendering options, explore our detailed documentation.

How Do I Apply Pixel-Perfect Chrome Rendering?

This example will give you PDFs that are pixel-perfect to the latest Chrome desktop browser's "print to PDF" functionality. The Chrome rendering engine ensures your HTML content, including complex CSS layouts and JavaScript-rendered elements, appears exactly as it would in a Chrome browser window.

using IronPdf;
using System.IO;

// Create a Chrome PDF renderer
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Configure for pixel-perfect rendering
renderer.RenderingOptions.CssMediaType = IronPdf.Rendering.CssMediaType.Print;
renderer.RenderingOptions.EnableJavaScript = true;
renderer.RenderingOptions.RenderDelay = 500; // Wait for JavaScript to execute

// Load HTML from file
string htmlContent = File.ReadAllText("template.html");

// Include base URL for relative assets
renderer.RenderingOptions.BaseUrl = new Uri("file:///C:/your-project/assets/").AbsoluteUri;

// Render the HTML to PDF
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(htmlContent);

// Add metadata
pdf.MetaData.Author = "Your Company";
pdf.MetaData.Title = "Pixel-Perfect Document";
pdf.MetaData.CreationDate = DateTime.Now;

// Save the PDF
pdf.SaveAs("PixelPerfect.pdf");
using IronPdf;
using System.IO;

// Create a Chrome PDF renderer
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Configure for pixel-perfect rendering
renderer.RenderingOptions.CssMediaType = IronPdf.Rendering.CssMediaType.Print;
renderer.RenderingOptions.EnableJavaScript = true;
renderer.RenderingOptions.RenderDelay = 500; // Wait for JavaScript to execute

// Load HTML from file
string htmlContent = File.ReadAllText("template.html");

// Include base URL for relative assets
renderer.RenderingOptions.BaseUrl = new Uri("file:///C:/your-project/assets/").AbsoluteUri;

// Render the HTML to PDF
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(htmlContent);

// Add metadata
pdf.MetaData.Author = "Your Company";
pdf.MetaData.Title = "Pixel-Perfect Document";
pdf.MetaData.CreationDate = DateTime.Now;

// Save the PDF
pdf.SaveAs("PixelPerfect.pdf");
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

To ensure perfect rendering, consider using our guide on debugging HTML with Chrome for optimal results.

What Improvements Should I Consider?

We recommend using Iron-specific improvements to enhance your PDF generation workflow:

  • Use screen stylesheets to print PDFs. They are less fiddly to develop and more true to existing web assets.
  • Responsive layout support for different page sizes and orientations.
  • Create PDF Forms from your HTML form elements automatically.
  • Implement custom headers and footers for professional documents.
  • Add watermarks for branding or security purposes.
using IronPdf;

// Example showing recommended improvements such as responsive layout
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Enable responsive CSS
renderer.RenderingOptions.CssMediaType = IronPdf.Rendering.CssMediaType.Screen;
renderer.RenderingOptions.ViewPortWidth = 1024;

// Enable form creation from HTML forms
renderer.RenderingOptions.CreatePdfFormsFromHtml = true;

// Add custom header
renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlHeader = new HtmlHeaderFooter()
{
    Height = 25,
    HtmlFragment = "<div style='text-align: center; font-size: 12px;'>Company Name - Confidential</div>",
    DrawDividerLine = true
};

// Add custom footer with page numbers
renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlFooter = new HtmlHeaderFooter()
{
    Height = 25,
    HtmlFragment = "<center><i>{page} of {total-pages}</i></center>",
    DrawDividerLine = true
};

// Render HTML with form elements
string formHtml = @"
<html>
<body>
    <h1>Application Form</h1>
    <form>
        <label>Name: <input type='text' name='name' /></label><br/>
        <label>Email: <input type='email' name='email' /></label><br/>
        <label>Subscribe: <input type='checkbox' name='subscribe' /></label><br/>
        <button type='submit'>Submit</button>
    </form>
</body>
</html>";

var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(formHtml);
pdf.SaveAs("FormDocument.pdf");
using IronPdf;

// Example showing recommended improvements such as responsive layout
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

// Enable responsive CSS
renderer.RenderingOptions.CssMediaType = IronPdf.Rendering.CssMediaType.Screen;
renderer.RenderingOptions.ViewPortWidth = 1024;

// Enable form creation from HTML forms
renderer.RenderingOptions.CreatePdfFormsFromHtml = true;

// Add custom header
renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlHeader = new HtmlHeaderFooter()
{
    Height = 25,
    HtmlFragment = "<div style='text-align: center; font-size: 12px;'>Company Name - Confidential</div>",
    DrawDividerLine = true
};

// Add custom footer with page numbers
renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlFooter = new HtmlHeaderFooter()
{
    Height = 25,
    HtmlFragment = "<center><i>{page} of {total-pages}</i></center>",
    DrawDividerLine = true
};

// Render HTML with form elements
string formHtml = @"
<html>
<body>
    <h1>Application Form</h1>
    <form>
        <label>Name: <input type='text' name='name' /></label><br/>
        <label>Email: <input type='email' name='email' /></label><br/>
        <label>Subscribe: <input type='checkbox' name='subscribe' /></label><br/>
        <button type='submit'>Submit</button>
    </form>
</body>
</html>";

var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(formHtml);
pdf.SaveAs("FormDocument.pdf");
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

How Do I Implement Multi-threading and Async Support?

Multithreading and Async support for our Chrome rendering engine offers superior performance compared to the previous build. The new engine is designed from the ground up to handle concurrent operations efficiently, making it ideal for high-throughput applications and web services.

  • For enterprise-grade multithreading, use ChromePdfRenderer in your existing threads and it will work. For web applications, this requires zero setup.
  • For batch processing of HTML to PDF, use the built-in .NET Parallel.ForEach pattern.
  • We provide Async variants of all rendering methods such as ChromePdfRenderer.RenderHtmlAsPdfAsync.

Learn more about async and multithreading techniques for optimal performance.

using IronPdf;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

// Example of using async rendering for a single document
public async Task<byte[]> GeneratePdfAsync(string html)
{
    var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
    var pdfDocument = await renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdfAsync(html);
    return pdfDocument.BinaryData;
}

// Example of batch processing with parallel execution
public async Task GenerateMultiplePdfsAsync(List<string> htmlDocuments)
{
    var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

    // Process multiple documents in parallel
    var tasks = htmlDocuments.Select(async (html, index) =>
    {
        var pdf = await renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdfAsync(html);
        await pdf.SaveAsAsync($"Document_{index}.pdf");
    });

    await Task.WhenAll(tasks);
}

// Example using Parallel.ForEach for CPU-intensive batch processing
public void GeneratePdfsBatch(List<string> urls)
{
    Parallel.ForEach(urls, new ParallelOptions { MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 4 }, url =>
    {
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        var pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf(url);
        pdf.SaveAs($"{Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(url)}.pdf");
    });
}
using IronPdf;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

// Example of using async rendering for a single document
public async Task<byte[]> GeneratePdfAsync(string html)
{
    var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
    var pdfDocument = await renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdfAsync(html);
    return pdfDocument.BinaryData;
}

// Example of batch processing with parallel execution
public async Task GenerateMultiplePdfsAsync(List<string> htmlDocuments)
{
    var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

    // Process multiple documents in parallel
    var tasks = htmlDocuments.Select(async (html, index) =>
    {
        var pdf = await renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdfAsync(html);
        await pdf.SaveAsAsync($"Document_{index}.pdf");
    });

    await Task.WhenAll(tasks);
}

// Example using Parallel.ForEach for CPU-intensive batch processing
public void GeneratePdfsBatch(List<string> urls)
{
    Parallel.ForEach(urls, new ParallelOptions { MaxDegreeOfParallelism = 4 }, url =>
    {
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        var pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf(url);
        pdf.SaveAs($"{Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(url)}.pdf");
    });
}
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

What Is Next?

Which Features Are Coming Soon?

The IronPDF team continuously works on new features and improvements based on customer feedback and industry trends. Here's our roadmap:

  • Ultra-Slim deployments for Azure functions and AWS Lambda. We aim to provide deployment options that produce the smallest possible disk footprint. Check our current AWS deployment guide for existing solutions.
  • Mobile rendering support for iOS and Android app developers, expanding our cross-platform capabilities.
  • IE and Firefox rendering options for legacy system compatibility.
  • Multi-server distributed rendering architectures for large enterprise users requiring scalable PDF generation.
  • A re-imagined internal PDF document object model to support the widest range of PDF standards. We aim to handle reading and automatically fixing corrupted and badly encoded PDF documents elegantly. Explore our current PDF compression capabilities.
  • "{YourIdeaHere}" Feature requests and bug reports from our customers go to the top of the stack.

Stay updated with our latest developments by checking our product updates and milestones.

Please Contact Us for Further Queries with any suggestions or questions. Your input helps shape the future of IronPDF!

Frequently Asked Questions

What rendering engine does C# use for HTML to PDF conversion?

IronPDF uses Chromium's Blink rendering engine, the same technology that powers Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and other modern browsers. This ensures pixel-perfect accuracy when converting HTML to PDF in your .NET applications.

How do I quickly convert HTML to PDF in C#?

With IronPDF, you can convert HTML to PDF in just a few lines of code. Simply create a ChromePdfRenderer instance, use the RenderHtmlAsPdf method with your HTML content, and save the resulting PDF using the SaveAs method.

What are the performance benefits of using a Chrome-based PDF renderer?

IronPDF provides 5-20 times faster performance compared to direct browser usage and web-drivers, especially for SAAS and high-load applications. It offers effortless multithreading and async operations, utilizing as many CPU cores as needed for optimal performance.

Does the Chrome rendering engine support modern web standards?

Yes, IronPDF's Chrome rendering engine fully supports modern CSS features, dynamic JavaScript content, and complex layouts. It offers Chrome Identical rendering or Enhanced Rendering options for accurate and professional PDF generation.

How does rendering quality impact PDF documents?

High-quality rendering with IronPDF directly impacts document readability, brand representation, and user experience. The Chrome rendering engine ensures that complex layouts and modern web features render accurately, matching what users see in their browsers.

Curtis Chau
Curtis Chau
  Chat with engineering team now
Technical Writer

Curtis Chau holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (Carleton University) and specializes in front-end development with expertise in Node.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, and React. Passionate about crafting intuitive and aesthetically pleasing user interfaces, Curtis enjoys working with modern frameworks and creating well-structured, visually appealing manuals.

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