Export a Slide Deck to PDF or PNG

Export a slide presentation to PDF or PNG by locking the viewport to the slide's aspect ratio and forcing screen media so backgrounds and fonts render as intended.

Prerequisites

• A Browserless API token from your account dashboard

Why emulateMedia: screen?

PDF generation defaults to print media, which strips background colors, changes fonts, and removes visual styling that slide decks rely on. Setting media to screen captures the presentation exactly as it appears in a browser.

Steps

REST API

Send a POST to the /pdf endpoint with screen media emulation and a 16:9 viewport. The viewport dimensions (1280×720) match the standard slide aspect ratio so each page in the PDF maps to exactly one slide.

cURL

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1. Build the request

Append your token to the PDF endpoint:

https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE

2. Send the request

curl -X POST \
  "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE" \
  -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/my-presentation",
    "emulateMedia": "screen",
    "viewport": { "width": 1280, "height": 720 },
    "options": {
      "printBackground": true,
      "width": "1280px",
      "height": "720px"
    }
  }' \
  -o slides.pdf

3. Check the output

The response body is a raw PDF binary written to slides.pdf. Each page is 1280×720px, one slide per page.

Exporting to PNG

Replace the endpoint with /screenshot and remove the options field to capture the first slide as a PNG instead:

curl -X POST \
  "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/screenshot?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/my-presentation",
    "emulateMedia": "screen",
    "viewport": { "width": 1280, "height": 720 },
    "options": { "type": "png" }
  }' \
  -o slide-1.png

JavaScript

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1. Send the request

import fs from 'fs';

const response = await fetch(
  'https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE',
  {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Cache-Control': 'no-cache',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      url: 'https://example.com/my-presentation',
      emulateMedia: 'screen',
      viewport: { width: 1280, height: 720 },
      options: {
        printBackground: true,
        width: '1280px',
        height: '720px',
      },
    }),
  }
);

const buffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
fs.writeFileSync('slides.pdf', Buffer.from(buffer));

2. Check the output

Run with node export-slide-deck.mjs. You'll find slides.pdf in the current directory with one slide per page.

Python

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1. Install dependencies

pip install requests

2. Send the request

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE',
    headers={'Cache-Control': 'no-cache', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
    json={
        'url': 'https://example.com/my-presentation',
        'emulateMedia': 'screen',
        'viewport': {'width': 1280, 'height': 720},
        'options': {
            'printBackground': True,
            'width': '1280px',
            'height': '720px',
        },
    },
)

with open('slides.pdf', 'wb') as f:
    f.write(response.content)

3. Check the output

Run with python export_slide_deck.py. You'll find slides.pdf in the current directory.

Java

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1. Send the request

import java.io.*;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

String token = "YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE";
String endpoint = "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token=" + token;

String payload = """
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/my-presentation",
      "emulateMedia": "screen",
      "viewport": { "width": 1280, "height": 720 },
      "options": {
        "printBackground": true,
        "width": "1280px",
        "height": "720px"
      }
    }
    """;

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create(endpoint))
    .header("Cache-Control", "no-cache")
    .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(payload))
    .build();

HttpResponse<InputStream> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofInputStream());
try (FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream("slides.pdf")) {
    response.body().transferTo(fos);
}
System.out.println("PDF saved as slides.pdf");

2. Check the output

Run the class. You'll find slides.pdf in the current directory.

C#

View Full Code on GitHub

1. Send the request

using System.IO;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.Json;

string token = "YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE";
string endpoint = $"https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token={token}";

var payload = new
{
    url = "https://example.com/my-presentation",
    emulateMedia = "screen",
    viewport = new { width = 1280, height = 720 },
    options = new
    {
        printBackground = true,
        width = "1280px",
        height = "720px",
    },
};

using (HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient())
{
    var request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, endpoint);
    request.Headers.Add("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
    request.Content = new StringContent(JsonSerializer.Serialize(payload), Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");

    var response = await httpClient.SendAsync(request);
    var contentStream = await response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync();
    using (var fileStream = new FileStream("slides.pdf", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write))
    {
        await contentStream.CopyToAsync(fileStream);
    }
    Console.WriteLine("PDF saved as slides.pdf");
}

2. Check the output

Run the program. You'll find slides.pdf in the current directory.

Frameworks

Use a direct browser connection when you need control over timing, for example when waiting for CSS animations or JavaScript transitions to finish before capturing. This also lets you produce both PDF and PNG from a single browser session without opening the URL twice.

Puppeteer

View Full Code on GitHub

1. Install dependencies

npm install puppeteer-core

2. Connect and export

import puppeteer from 'puppeteer-core';
import fs from 'fs';

const browser = await puppeteer.connect({
  browserWSEndpoint: 'wss://production-sfo.browserless.io?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE',
});

try {
  const page = await browser.newPage();

  await page.setViewport({ width: 1280, height: 720 });
  await page.emulateMedia('screen');

  await page.goto('https://example.com/my-presentation', {
    waitUntil: 'networkidle0',
  });

  // Export full deck as PDF
  const pdf = await page.pdf({
    printBackground: true,
    width: '1280px',
    height: '720px',
  });
  fs.writeFileSync('slides.pdf', pdf);

  // Export first slide as PNG
  const png = await page.screenshot({ type: 'png' });
  fs.writeFileSync('slide-1.png', png);
} finally {
  await browser.close();
}

3. Check the output

Run with node export-slide-deck.mjs. Both slides.pdf and slide-1.png will appear in the current directory.

Playwright

View Full Code on GitHub

1. Install dependencies

npm install playwright-core

2. Connect and export

import { chromium } from 'playwright-core';
import fs from 'fs';

const browser = await chromium.connect(
  'wss://production-sfo.browserless.io/chromium/playwright?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN_HERE'
);

try {
  const page = await browser.newPage();

  await page.setViewportSize({ width: 1280, height: 720 });
  await page.emulateMedia({ media: 'screen' });

  await page.goto('https://example.com/my-presentation', {
    waitUntil: 'networkidle',
  });

  // Export full deck as PDF
  const pdf = await page.pdf({
    printBackground: true,
    width: '1280px',
    height: '720px',
  });
  fs.writeFileSync('slides.pdf', pdf);

  // Export first slide as PNG
  const png = await page.screenshot({ type: 'png' });
  fs.writeFileSync('slide-1.png', png);
} finally {
  await browser.close();
}

3. Check the output

Run with node export-slide-deck.mjs. Both slides.pdf and slide-1.png will appear in the current directory.

BQL

View Full Code on GitHub

1. Write the mutation

Navigate to the presentation and export it as a base64-encoded PDF:

mutation ExportSlideDeck {
  goto(url: "https://example.com/my-presentation", waitUntil: networkIdle) {
    status
  }

  pdf(printBackground: true, width: "1280px", height: "720px") {
    base64
  }
}

2. Run it

Paste into the BQL IDE and click Run.

3. Check the output

{
  "data": {
    "goto": { "status": 200 },
    "pdf": { "base64": "JVBERi0xLjQ..." }
  }
}

BQL returns the PDF as a base64 string rather than raw binary because the response is JSON. Decode it and write the bytes to a file to get the final PDF.

Next steps

• Generate a PDF — export any webpage as a PDF without slide-specific configuration
• Take a Screenshot — capture a page as a PNG or JPEG
• Export Pages and Assets — download a full page snapshot with all linked assets