POST/api/v1/pdf/split

Split PDF

Split a PDF into multiple files using one of three modes: extract every page individually, specify custom page ranges, or divide into fixed-size chunks. The result is a ZIP archive containing all split files.

Content-Type: multipart/form-data

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`file`	file	Required	-	The PDF file to split.
`split_mode`	string	Required	-	Split strategy. One of: `all-pages`, `page-ranges`, `chunks`.
`page_ranges`	string	Conditional	-	Required when `split_mode=page-ranges`. Comma-separated ranges, e.g. `1-3,5,7-9`. Each range produces one PDF.
`chunk_size`	integer	Conditional	-	Required when `split_mode=chunks`. Number of pages per chunk.

Split Modes

all-pages — Extracts every page as a separate single-page PDF.
page-ranges — Creates one PDF per specified range. Use page_ranges parameter.
chunks — Divides the document into equal chunks of chunk_size pages. The last chunk may contain fewer pages.

Code Examples

cURL

bash

# Split by page ranges
curl -X POST "https://app.alternapdf.com/api/v1/pdf/split" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf" \
  -F "split_mode=page-ranges" \
  -F "page_ranges=1-3,5,7-9" \
  --output split_pages.zip

# Split every page
curl -X POST "https://app.alternapdf.com/api/v1/pdf/split" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf" \
  -F "split_mode=all-pages" \
  --output all_pages.zip

# Split into chunks of 10 pages
curl -X POST "https://app.alternapdf.com/api/v1/pdf/split" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf" \
  -F "split_mode=chunks" \
  -F "chunk_size=10" \
  --output chunks.zip

Python

python

import requests

url = "https://app.alternapdf.com/api/v1/pdf/split"
headers = {"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}

files = {
    "file": ("document.pdf", open("document.pdf", "rb"), "application/pdf"),
}

data = {
    "split_mode": "page-ranges",
    "page_ranges": "1-3,5,7-9",
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, files=files, data=data)

with open("split_pages.zip", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

print(f"ZIP archive saved ({len(response.content)} bytes)")

JavaScript

javascript

const fs = require("fs");
const FormData = require("form-data");
const axios = require("axios");

const form = new FormData();
form.append("file", fs.createReadStream("document.pdf"));
form.append("split_mode", "page-ranges");
form.append("page_ranges", "1-3,5,7-9");

const response = await axios.post(
  "https://app.alternapdf.com/api/v1/pdf/split",
  form,
  {
    headers: {
      "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
      ...form.getHeaders(),
    },
    responseType: "arraybuffer",
  }
);

fs.writeFileSync("split_pages.zip", response.data);
console.log(`ZIP archive saved (${response.data.byteLength} bytes)`);

Response

200ZIP archive containing split PDFs

Header	Value
`Content-Type`	application/zip
`Content-Disposition`	attachment; filename="split_pages.zip"

The response body contains a ZIP archive with the split PDF files. Each file is named based on the split mode and page numbers. On error, a JSON object with a detail field is returned instead.