Backend converters

The Produce & Publish solutions use external converters for converting the input documented into a defined output format. The converters differ in quality and price (open-source and commercial).

PrinceXML

PrinceXML is the best of our supported converter backends.

PrinceXML generates excellent PDF quality from HTML/CSS. This is our real Web-To-Print solution. Features like

  • absolute positioning of blocks

  • stylesheets

  • images (CMYK, RGB)

  • fonts over HTTP

  • hyphenation supporting

  • page floats

  • crop marks

  • footnotes

  • Unicode support

make PrinceXML the perfect Web-To-Print solution. Typical usecases are the production of books, high-quality PDF for flyers and posters.

Although PrinceXML is not a cheap solution, it is cheaper than comparable solutions like Adobe Indesign Server. As reseller we can give you discount on the  PrinceXML license (contact us for conditions).

Read more about PrinceXML

XINC

XINC is a derivative of the Apache FOP projects. It introduces several improvements over FOP making it a flexible solution for producing high-quality PDF documents with text and images. XINC is not design to work as a Web-To-Print backend. The focus is on producing good-looking PDF documents where the majority of the content is text. XINC is based on Java.

Read more about XINC

XFC

XFC is a high-quality converter for converting into RTF, ODT, OOXML or WML. XFC is the solution for producing editable documents from web content. XFC is based on Java.

Read more about XFC

FOP

FOP is a XSL-FO-based solution for producing PDF. FOP is Open-Source and freely available. FOP is based on Java.

Read more about FOP

Calibre

Calibre is free Open-Source all-in-one solution for producing eBooks. It supports almost any known ebook format both for input and output – including dedicated support for various ebook readers. The Produce & Publish Server makes your eBook production as easy as generating a simple PDF document from your content. Calibre is based on Python.

Read more about Calibre

All converters at a glance 

Converter Input format Output formats Technology Usecase Costs Quality
Apache FOP  XSL-FO  PDF Java Text with tables and images  free  Poor - Good
XINC  XSL-FO  PDF Java Text with tables and images  600 USD  Good
XFC  XSL-FO  RTF, ODT, 
OOXML, WML		 Java Text with tables and images  600 USD  Good
PrinceXML  XML+HTML/CSS, SVG, XML  PDF native binaries available Web-to-Print, 
Text with tables and images		  3800 USD 
(academic license: 1900 USD)		  Very high
Calibre  HTML/CSS,
almost all eBook formats

 almost all eBook formats,
PDF, HTML

 Python eBook production  free  Very high (eBooks)