Encoding PDF binary data to base64 not working with NodeJS

user_2971066 0
Viewed 19114

I'm trying to get a PDF stream return that comes from a API and parse it to base64 to embbed it in the client side, the body of the API request is returning something like this:

    %PDF-1.5
%����
4 0 obj
<<
/Type/XObjcect
/Subtype/Image
/Width 799
/Height 70
/ColorSpace/DeviceGray
/BitsPerComponent 8
/Filter/FlateDecode
/Length 5181
>>
stream
x���=H#�������A�&�)���B���4iba�&O8H
.
.
. 
(The rest was omitted)

I'm trying to parse to base64 this way:

console.log(typeof body); // STRING
const encoded = new Buffer.from(body).toString('base64'); //PDF NOT WORKING

But when I'm getting this base64 and embedding it on the html it says that the file can't be oppened, the same thing happens when I trying to save it as .PDF file.

When I try to parse to base64 the same pdf but this time from a downloaded pdf, the base64 code when embedded in the html works fine.

  fs.readFile('/home/user/downloaded.pdf', function (err, data) {
    if (err) throw err;

    console.log(typeof data); //OBJECT
    const pdf = data.toString('base64'); //PDF WORKS
  });

I'm using const request = require('request'); to make the requests.

node.js encode pdf javascript
3 Answers

I've found solution on this article. You need add to your request some config.

axios.get({
    url: "https...",
    responseType: "arraybuffer",
    responseEncoding: "binary",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/pdf"
    }
});
user_167153790 
const pdf2base64 = require('pdf-to-base64');
pdf2base64("test/sample.pdf")
    .then(
        (response) => {
            console.log(response);        }
    )
    .catch(
        (error) => {
            console.log(error);
        }
    )
user_107673270
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