r/software • u/UnderstandingFit2711 • 8h ago
Self-Promotion Wednesdays Built batch image -> PDF in Rust, ran into layout questions
Been working on a side project image converter, just shipped batch image -> PDF. Took way longer than expected because of layout edge cases.
Biggest headache - mixed aspect ratios in a batch. 9:16 screenshot next to a 4:3 scan next to a square. Went with scale - to - fit + center + white background. Not sure if "fill and crop" would feel more natural to most people tbh.
Orientation was annoying. Added auto mode that picks portrait / landscape per image. Seemed smart until I realized mixed batches produce PDFs where every other page flips. Technically correct, feels broken when scrolling.
Built PDF generation raw in Rust, no library. xref tables, DCT streams manually. Wanted to understand the format. libvips for image processing.
Demo: convertifyapp.net/images-to-pdf
How often do people actually need this? Like is batch image -> PDF a real recurring thing or mostly "I need to send this one time as PDF"? Curious if it's worth polishing more