Prince Creator & Producer
Understanding PDF metadata that shows Prince as the Creator or Producer — learn how this professional HTML/CSS to PDF converter creates high-quality print documents with advanced typography and paged media support.
📄 About This PDF Metadata
When you examine a PDF file's properties and see Prince [version] as the Producer, it indicates that the document was generated using Prince — a professional HTML/CSS to PDF converter known for its exceptional typography and CSS Paged Media support.
Sample PDF Metadata from Prince:
Title: Annual Report 2024
Author: Acme Corporation
Subject: Financial Performance Summary
Creator: Report Generator v3.0
Producer: Prince 15.2 (www.princexml.com)
Creation Date: 2025-01-27 09:00:00
PDF Version: 1.5
Prince automatically sets the Producer field to identify itself. The Creator field (called "generator" in HTML meta tags) can be customized to show your application name. Metadata can be set via HTML meta tags, command-line options, or JavaScript.
PDF Creator
Set with <meta name="generator"> or --pdf-creator — shows the application that created the original document (HTML/XML).
PDF Producer
Automatically set to Prince [version] (www.princexml.com) — identifies Prince as the PDF generation engine.
📚 What is Prince?
Prince (formerly Prince XML) is a professional software program that converts XML and HTML documents into PDF files by applying Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Developed by YesLogic, a company based in Melbourne, Australia, Prince was first released in April 2003. Since 2004, Håkon Wium Lie, the co-creator of CSS, has served as chairman of the board. Prince implements its own rendering engine (not based on a browser) and is known for exceptional print quality.
Software Information
| Developer: | YesLogic Pty Ltd |
| Founder: | Michael Day |
| First Released: | April 2003 (v1.0) |
| Current Version: | 15.2 (October 2023) |
| Website: | princexml.com |
Technical Details
| License: | Commercial (free for non-commercial) |
| Chairman: | Håkon Wium Lie (CSS co-creator) |
| Location: | Melbourne, Australia |
| Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD |
| Wrappers: | Java, .NET, PHP, Ruby, Node.js |
Why Prince?
Professional Typography
Industry-leading text rendering, hyphenation, and line breaking
CSS Paged Media
Best-in-class support for @page rules, headers, footers, footnotes
PDF/UA Accessibility
Generate tagged, accessible PDFs meeting ISO 14289 standards
💡 Prince vs Browser-Based Solutions
Unlike wkhtmltopdf or Puppeteer (which use browser engines), Prince implements its own rendering engine specifically designed for print. This gives Prince superior typography, CSS Paged Media support, and faster performance without the overhead of a full browser.
⚙️ How Prince Creates PDFs
Prince converts HTML/XML and CSS to PDF using its custom rendering engine:
PDF Generation Workflow:
Parse HTML/XML
HTML5, XHTML, SVG
Apply CSS
CSS 2.1 + CSS3 + Paged Media
Execute JavaScript
DOM manipulation
Generate PDF
PDF/A, PDF/UA, PDF/X
Key Milestones:
- April 2003: Prince 1.0 released with XHTML, CSS, SVG support
- December 2005: Prince 5.1 passes Acid2 test (3rd after Safari and Konqueror)
- June 2012: Prince 8.1 adds HTML5 support
- 2018: Prince 12 adds tagged PDF, PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-3, PDF/UA-1
- 2023: Prince 15 with continued CSS and accessibility improvements
✨ Key Features
📝 CSS Support
- CSS 2.1 fully supported
- Extensive CSS3 properties
@page,@media,@importrules- CSS Paged Media (page breaks, margins)
- Generated Content for Paged Media (GCPM)
📄 PDF Profiles
- PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-3: Archival format
- PDF/UA-1: Universal Accessibility (ISO 14289)
- PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4: Print production
- Combined profiles (PDF/A + PDF/UA)
- Tagged PDF for accessibility
🎨 Typography
- Advanced hyphenation (language-specific)
- OpenType features (ligatures, kerning)
- Font subsetting and embedding
- RTL languages (Arabic, Hebrew)
- Indic scripts (Hindi, Bengali, Tamil)
🖼️ Graphics & Images
- SVG rendering
- JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, WebP
- CMYK and ICC color profiles
- Transparency and blending
- MathML support
📚 Print Features
- Running headers and footers
- Footnotes and sidenotes
- Page floats (top/bottom)
- Cross-references and page counters
- Crop marks and bleed area
- Multiple page layouts (left/right)
- Table of contents generation
- PDF bookmarks and links
📤 How to Use Prince
Prince is available as a command-line tool with wrappers for various programming languages:
Basic Command-Line Usage:
# Convert HTML to PDF
prince input.html -o output.pdf
# Apply external stylesheet
prince input.html -s style.css -o output.pdf
# Set metadata via command line
prince input.html --pdf-title="My Document" --pdf-author="John Doe" -o output.pdf
# Generate accessible PDF/UA document
prince input.html --pdf-profile=PDF/UA-1 -o accessible.pdf
Setting Metadata via HTML:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<!-- Title becomes PDF Title -->
<title>Annual Report 2024</title>
<!-- Standard metadata -->
<meta name="author" content="Acme Corporation"/>
<meta name="subject" content="Financial Summary"/>
<meta name="keywords" content="finance, report, 2024"/>
<meta name="generator" content="Report System v3.0"/>
<meta name="date" content="2024-12-01"/>
</head>
<body>...</body>
</html>
Command-Line Metadata Options:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--pdf-title=STRING | Set PDF document title |
--pdf-subject=STRING | Set PDF document subject |
--pdf-author=STRING | Set PDF document author |
--pdf-keywords=STRING | Set PDF document keywords |
--pdf-creator=STRING | Set PDF document creator |
--pdf-xmp=FILE | Include additional XMP metadata |
--pdf-profile=PROFILE | Set PDF profile (PDF/A-1a, PDF/UA-1, etc.) |
🔍 Understanding PDF Metadata
Prince creates PDF metadata from HTML meta elements or command-line options:
| Metadata Field | HTML Meta Name | Command-Line Option | Default Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title | <title> element |
--pdf-title |
From <title> |
| Author | name="author" |
--pdf-author |
Empty |
| Subject | name="subject" |
--pdf-subject |
Empty |
| Keywords | name="keywords" |
--pdf-keywords |
Empty |
| Creator | name="generator" |
--pdf-creator |
Empty |
| Producer | Automatic | N/A | Prince [version] |
| Creation Date | name="date" |
Automatic | Current timestamp |
💡 HTML "generator" vs PDF "Creator"
The HTML <meta name="generator"> maps to the PDF Creator field. This is the application that generated the original document (HTML/XML). The PDF Producer is always Prince, as it's the application that produced the PDF file itself.
Sample Producer Values:
| Prince Version | Producer Value |
|---|---|
| Prince 15.2 | Prince 15.2 (www.princexml.com) |
| Prince 15.1 | Prince 15.1 (www.princexml.com) |
| Prince 14.3 | Prince 14.3 (www.princexml.com) |
| Prince 13.5 | Prince 13.5 (www.princexml.com) |
| Prince 12.5 | Prince 12.5 (www.princexml.com) |
| DocRaptor (hosted) | Prince [version] (www.princexml.com) |
XMP Metadata Support:
Prince supports XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) for advanced metadata, particularly useful for Factur-X/ZUGFeRD invoices:
# Include XMP metadata file
prince input.html --pdf-xmp=metadata.xmp -o output.pdf
🛠️ Troubleshooting
Common issues when using Prince:
Watermark Appears on PDF
Cause: Using the free/unlicensed version of Prince.
Solution: The free version of Prince adds a small watermark for identification. To remove it, purchase a commercial license from princexml.com. For non-commercial projects (personal, academic), the watermark is typically acceptable.
Fonts Not Embedding Correctly
Cause: Font not found, font licensing restrictions, or encoding issues.
Solution: Ensure fonts are installed on the system or use @font-face to embed web fonts. Check font licensing allows embedding. Use --no-system-fonts to use only explicitly defined fonts. Run prince --scanfonts to scan available fonts.
CSS Not Applied as Expected
Cause: CSS property not supported, specificity issues, or print media styles.
Solution: Check Prince's CSS compatibility documentation. Remember Prince uses print media by default, not screen. Use @media print styles or --media=screen to change media type. Test with Prince's GUI viewer to debug styling issues.
Remote Resources Not Loading
Cause: Network issues, HTTPS requirements, or blocked URLs.
Solution: Check network connectivity. Use --http-timeout for slow servers. Ensure SSL certificates are valid for HTTPS URLs. Use --no-network and local files for security-sensitive environments.
PDF/UA Validation Fails
Cause: Missing alt text, incorrect heading structure, or language not specified.
Solution: Ensure all images have alt attributes. Use proper heading hierarchy (h1, h2, h3...). Set document language with lang attribute on <html> or --pdf-lang. Use semantic HTML elements for best accessibility results.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
When a PDF shows "Prince [version] (www.princexml.com)" as the Producer, it means the PDF was generated using Prince, a professional HTML/CSS to PDF converter developed by YesLogic. Prince is known for its exceptional typography, CSS Paged Media support, and ability to create print-quality PDFs from web standards.
Prince is commercial software with free non-commercial use. The free version adds a small watermark. Commercial licenses include: Desktop License (~$500 per user), Server License (~$3,800 for one server), and OEM licenses for distribution. DocRaptor offers Prince as a cloud API service with lower entry costs.
Prince 1.0 was released in April 2003 with basic support for XHTML, CSS, SVG, and arbitrary XML. It was one of the earliest professional HTML to PDF converters. In December 2005, Prince 5.1 became only the third user agent to pass the Acid2 test (after Safari and Konqueror). The software is developed by YesLogic, founded by Michael Day in Melbourne, Australia.
Håkon Wium Lie is the co-creator of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and former CTO of Opera Software. Since 2004, he has served as chairman of YesLogic (Prince's developer). He also wrote the first CSS Paged Media W3C specifications, which enable much of Prince's unique print-oriented functionality. His involvement explains Prince's exceptional CSS support.
Prince uses its own rendering engine optimized for print, while wkhtmltopdf uses an older WebKit browser engine. Prince offers superior typography, CSS Paged Media support, PDF/UA accessibility, and faster performance. wkhtmltopdf is free but deprecated and has security issues. For professional publishing, Prince is the industry standard; for simple web page capture, browser-based tools may suffice.
Prince supports multiple PDF profiles: PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-3 for archival documents, PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289) for universal accessibility, and PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4 for print production. It also supports combined profiles like PDF/A-1a+PDF/UA-1. Tagged PDF is automatically enabled for PDF/A-*a and PDF/UA-1 profiles.
DocRaptor is a cloud-based PDF generation API that uses Prince as its rendering engine. It offers an easier-to-use API, instant scalability, and lower entry costs compared to purchasing a Prince server license. DocRaptor is SOC2 and HIPAA compliant. PDFs generated through DocRaptor will still show Prince as the Producer.
🛠️ Related Tools
PDF Metadata Viewer
Free tool to view PDF metadata including Creator, Producer, and version information.
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📝 Summary: Prince PDF Metadata
- Developer: YesLogic (Melbourne, Australia)
- First released: April 2003
- Producer shows Prince [version]
- License: Commercial (free non-commercial)
- Chairman: Håkon Wium Lie (CSS co-creator)
- Current version: 15.2
- CSS Paged Media leader
- PDF/A, PDF/UA, PDF/X support
- Own rendering engine (not browser-based)
- Metadata via HTML meta or CLI