IronPDF vs iTextSharp: Reading PDF Files in C

How Do I Read PDFs Using IronPDF vs iTextSharp in C#?

1. Create a new C# project in Visual Studio to compare IronPDF vs. iTextSharp for reading PDF files.
2. Install IronPDF and iTextSharp libraries to your project via NuGet Package Manager.
3. Read PDF files using IronPDF's intuitive API for text extraction.
4. Read PDF files using iTextSharp's more complex object model.

How Do I Install IronPDF and iTextSharp Libraries?

How Do I Read Text from PDFs Using IronPDF?

Add the below code to your Program.cs file and provide a sample PDF document with the specified content. IronPDF excels at extracting text from complex PDFs, including those with multiple columns, embedded fonts, and various encodings.

using IronPdf;

// Begin the comparison of IronPDF and iTextSharp for reading PDFs in C#
Console.WriteLine("Comparison of IronPDF And iTextSharp Read PDF Files in C#");

// Read PDF using IronPDF
ReadUsingIronPdf.Read();

public class ReadUsingIronPDF
{
    public static void Read()
    {
        // Specify the path to the PDF document
        string filename = "C:\\code\\articles\\ITextSharp\\ITextSharpIronPdfDemo\\Example.pdf";

        // Create a PDF Reader instance to read the PDF
        // IronPDF automatically handles various PDF versions and encryption
        var pdfReader = PdfDocument.FromFile(filename);

        // Extract all text from the PDF - maintains formatting and structure
        var allText = pdfReader.ExtractAllText();
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Text From PDF-----------------");
        Console.WriteLine(allText);
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Text From PDF-----------------");

        // Extract all images from the PDF - supports various image formats
        var allImages = pdfReader.ExtractAllImages();
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Image Count From PDF-----------------");
        Console.WriteLine($"Total Images = {allImages.Count()}");

        // Save extracted images if needed (production example)
        for (int i = 0; i < allImages.Count(); i++)
        {
            // allImages[i].SaveAs($"image_{i}.png");
        }
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Image Count From PDF-----------------");

        // Iterate through each page to extract text from them
        Console.WriteLine("------------------One Page Text From PDF-----------------");
        var pageCount = pdfReader.PageCount;
        for (int page = 0; page < pageCount; page++)
        {
            string text = pdfReader.ExtractTextFromPage(page);
            Console.WriteLine($"Page {page + 1} content:");
            Console.WriteLine(text);
        }

        // Additional IronPDF capabilities for production use
        // Extract form data
        var form = pdfReader.Form;
        if (form != null)
        {
            foreach (var field in form.Fields)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Form Field: {field.Name} = {field.Value}");
            }
        }

        // Access metadata
        Console.WriteLine($"Author: {pdfReader.MetaData.Author}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Title: {pdfReader.MetaData.Title}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Created: {pdfReader.MetaData.CreationDate}");
    }
}

using IronPdf;

// Begin the comparison of IronPDF and iTextSharp for reading PDFs in C#
Console.WriteLine("Comparison of IronPDF And iTextSharp Read PDF Files in C#");

// Read PDF using IronPDF
ReadUsingIronPdf.Read();

public class ReadUsingIronPDF
{
    public static void Read()
    {
        // Specify the path to the PDF document
        string filename = "C:\\code\\articles\\ITextSharp\\ITextSharpIronPdfDemo\\Example.pdf";

        // Create a PDF Reader instance to read the PDF
        // IronPDF automatically handles various PDF versions and encryption
        var pdfReader = PdfDocument.FromFile(filename);

        // Extract all text from the PDF - maintains formatting and structure
        var allText = pdfReader.ExtractAllText();
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Text From PDF-----------------");
        Console.WriteLine(allText);
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Text From PDF-----------------");

        // Extract all images from the PDF - supports various image formats
        var allImages = pdfReader.ExtractAllImages();
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Image Count From PDF-----------------");
        Console.WriteLine($"Total Images = {allImages.Count()}");

        // Save extracted images if needed (production example)
        for (int i = 0; i < allImages.Count(); i++)
        {
            // allImages[i].SaveAs($"image_{i}.png");
        }
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Image Count From PDF-----------------");

        // Iterate through each page to extract text from them
        Console.WriteLine("------------------One Page Text From PDF-----------------");
        var pageCount = pdfReader.PageCount;
        for (int page = 0; page < pageCount; page++)
        {
            string text = pdfReader.ExtractTextFromPage(page);
            Console.WriteLine($"Page {page + 1} content:");
            Console.WriteLine(text);
        }

        // Additional IronPDF capabilities for production use
        // Extract form data
        var form = pdfReader.Form;
        if (form != null)
        {
            foreach (var field in form.Fields)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Form Field: {field.Name} = {field.Value}");
            }
        }

        // Access metadata
        Console.WriteLine($"Author: {pdfReader.MetaData.Author}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Title: {pdfReader.MetaData.Title}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Created: {pdfReader.MetaData.CreationDate}");
    }
}

How Do I Read Text from PDFs Using iTextSharp?

Now to compare the text extraction from iTextSharp, add the below code to the same Program.cs file. For simplicity, we have not separated the classes into different files. Notice how iTextSharp requires more complex code for basic operations.

using IronPdf;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.Canvas.Parser.Listener;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.Canvas.Parser;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.Xobject;

// Begin the comparison of IronPDF and iTextSharp for reading PDFs in C#
Console.WriteLine("Comparison of IronPDF And iTextSharp Read PDF Files in C#");

// Call method to read PDF using iTextSharp library
ReadUsingITextSharp.Read();

public class ReadUsingITextSharp
{
    public static void Read()
    {
        // Specify the path to the PDF document
        string pdfFile = "C:\\code\\articles\\ITextSharp\\ITextSharpIronPdfDemo\\Example.pdf";

        // Create a PDF Reader instance - more verbose than IronPDF
        PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader(pdfFile);

        // Initialize a new PDF Document - additional step required
        iText.Kernel.Pdf.PdfDocument pdfDocument = new iText.Kernel.Pdf.PdfDocument(pdfReader);

        // Extract text from all pages - more complex than IronPDF
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Text From PDF (iTextSharp)-----------------");
        for (int page = 1; page <= pdfDocument.GetNumberOfPages(); page++)
        {
            // Use a text extraction strategy to extract plain text from the PDF
            LocationTextExtractionStrategy strategy = new LocationTextExtractionStrategy();
            string pdfText = PdfTextExtractor.GetTextFromPage(pdfDocument.GetPage(page), strategy);
            Console.WriteLine($"Page {page} content:");
            Console.WriteLine(pdfText);
        }

        // Extract images - significantly more complex than IronPDF
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Images From PDF (iTextSharp)-----------------");
        int imageCount = 0;
        for (int pageNum = 1; pageNum <= pdfDocument.GetNumberOfPages(); pageNum++)
        {
            var page = pdfDocument.GetPage(pageNum);
            var resources = page.GetResources();
            var xobjects = resources.GetResource(PdfName.XObject);

            if (xobjects != null)
            {
                foreach (var key in xobjects.KeySet())
                {
                    var xobject = xobjects.GetAsStream(key);
                    if (xobject != null)
                    {
                        var pdfObject = xobjects.Get(key);
                        if (pdfObject.IsStream())
                        {
                            var stream = (PdfStream)pdfObject;
                            var subtype = stream.GetAsName(PdfName.Subtype);
                            if (PdfName.Image.Equals(subtype))
                            {
                                imageCount++;
                                // Extracting the actual image requires additional complex code
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        Console.WriteLine($"Total Images Found: {imageCount}");

        // Close the document - manual resource management required
        pdfDocument.Close();
        pdfReader.Close();
    }
}

using IronPdf;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.Canvas.Parser.Listener;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.Canvas.Parser;
using iText.Kernel.Pdf.Xobject;

// Begin the comparison of IronPDF and iTextSharp for reading PDFs in C#
Console.WriteLine("Comparison of IronPDF And iTextSharp Read PDF Files in C#");

// Call method to read PDF using iTextSharp library
ReadUsingITextSharp.Read();

public class ReadUsingITextSharp
{
    public static void Read()
    {
        // Specify the path to the PDF document
        string pdfFile = "C:\\code\\articles\\ITextSharp\\ITextSharpIronPdfDemo\\Example.pdf";

        // Create a PDF Reader instance - more verbose than IronPDF
        PdfReader pdfReader = new PdfReader(pdfFile);

        // Initialize a new PDF Document - additional step required
        iText.Kernel.Pdf.PdfDocument pdfDocument = new iText.Kernel.Pdf.PdfDocument(pdfReader);

        // Extract text from all pages - more complex than IronPDF
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Text From PDF (iTextSharp)-----------------");
        for (int page = 1; page <= pdfDocument.GetNumberOfPages(); page++)
        {
            // Use a text extraction strategy to extract plain text from the PDF
            LocationTextExtractionStrategy strategy = new LocationTextExtractionStrategy();
            string pdfText = PdfTextExtractor.GetTextFromPage(pdfDocument.GetPage(page), strategy);
            Console.WriteLine($"Page {page} content:");
            Console.WriteLine(pdfText);
        }

        // Extract images - significantly more complex than IronPDF
        Console.WriteLine("------------------Images From PDF (iTextSharp)-----------------");
        int imageCount = 0;
        for (int pageNum = 1; pageNum <= pdfDocument.GetNumberOfPages(); pageNum++)
        {
            var page = pdfDocument.GetPage(pageNum);
            var resources = page.GetResources();
            var xobjects = resources.GetResource(PdfName.XObject);

            if (xobjects != null)
            {
                foreach (var key in xobjects.KeySet())
                {
                    var xobject = xobjects.GetAsStream(key);
                    if (xobject != null)
                    {
                        var pdfObject = xobjects.Get(key);
                        if (pdfObject.IsStream())
                        {
                            var stream = (PdfStream)pdfObject;
                            var subtype = stream.GetAsName(PdfName.Subtype);
                            if (PdfName.Image.Equals(subtype))
                            {
                                imageCount++;
                                // Extracting the actual image requires additional complex code
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        Console.WriteLine($"Total Images Found: {imageCount}");

        // Close the document - manual resource management required
        pdfDocument.Close();
        pdfReader.Close();
    }
}

// Migration Example: Text Extraction
// iTextSharp (old way)
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(filename);
PdfDocument doc = new PdfDocument(reader);
string text = PdfTextExtractor.GetTextFromPage(doc.GetPage(1));
doc.Close();

// IronPDF (new way)
var pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile(filename);
string text = pdf.ExtractTextFromPage(0); // 0-based indexing

// Migration Example: Form Field Reading
// iTextSharp (complex)
PdfAcroForm form = PdfAcroForm.GetAcroForm(pdfDocument, false);
IDictionary<string, PdfFormField> fields = form.GetFormFields();
foreach (var field in fields)
{
    string value = field.Value.GetValueAsString();
}

// IronPDF (simple)
var form = pdf.Form;
foreach (var field in form.Fields)
{
    string value = field.Value;
}

// Migration Example: Text Extraction
// iTextSharp (old way)
PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(filename);
PdfDocument doc = new PdfDocument(reader);
string text = PdfTextExtractor.GetTextFromPage(doc.GetPage(1));
doc.Close();

// IronPDF (new way)
var pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile(filename);
string text = pdf.ExtractTextFromPage(0); // 0-based indexing

// Migration Example: Form Field Reading
// iTextSharp (complex)
PdfAcroForm form = PdfAcroForm.GetAcroForm(pdfDocument, false);
IDictionary<string, PdfFormField> fields = form.GetFormFields();
foreach (var field in fields)
{
    string value = field.Value.GetValueAsString();
}

// IronPDF (simple)
var form = pdf.Form;
foreach (var field in form.Fields)
{
    string value = field.Value;
}

How Does Text Extraction Accuracy Compare?

IronPDF excels at handling complex PDFs that challenge other libraries:

• Scanned Documents: Better text flow when processing OCR-processed PDFs
• Multi-Column Layouts: Superior handling of newspaper-style layouts
• Encrypted Files: Automatic handling of password-protected PDFs
• Unicode Support: Full UTF-8 and international language support
• Embedded Fonts: Accurate extraction regardless of font embedding

How Do I Configure Licensing for IronPDF?

Insert your IronPDF license key into the appsettings.json file. For production deployments, consider using environment variables for secure key management.

{
  "IronPdf.LicenseKey": "your license key",
  "IronPdf.LoggingMode": "Custom",
  "IronPdf.ChromeGpuMode": "Disabled"
}

To receive a trial license, please provide your email at our licensing page. IronPDF offers flexible licensing options including development, staging, and production licenses.## Which Library Should I Choose for My Project?

Choosing between IronPDF and iTextSharp depends on your project's specific needs. For enterprise applications requiring commercial licensing, IronPDF is the preferred choice due to iTextSharp's restrictive AGPL license. If you need a straightforward and easy-to-use library for common PDF operations, IronPDF offers a superior developer experience with its intuitive API.

Consider these factors when making your decision:

• Licensing Requirements: AGPL vs commercial-friendly licensing
• API Complexity: Simple, intuitive API vs complex, low-level API
• Feature Set: IronPDF offers a full range of PDF manipulation features
• Performance: IronPDF provides better performance improvements
• Support: Active development and 24/5 technical support

IronPDF is designed to smoothly integrate PDF generation into your application, efficiently handling the conversion of formatted documents into PDFs. This approach provides clear benefits when you need to convert web forms, local HTML pages, and other web content to PDF using .NET. Your application can conveniently download, email, or store documents in the cloud. Whether you need to produce invoices, quotes, reports, contracts, or other professional documents, IronPDF's PDF Generation Capabilities have you covered. The library also supports advanced features like PDF compression, linearization for fast web view, and PDF/A compliance for long-term archival. Improve your application with IronPDF's intuitive and efficient PDF generation capabilities.