PHP cURL can fetch HTML, but it cannot turn that HTML into a PDF by itself. Capture the response body with CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, check both the transfer result and HTTP status, then pass the HTML string to a PDF renderer such as Dompdf. The example below saves the rendered document as page.pdf.
What the conversion involves
There are two separate jobs: retrieve or otherwise obtain the HTML, then lay it out and render it as PDF. cURL handles the first job when the markup lives at a URL. A PHP renderer handles the second. If the HTML is already in a PHP string, skip cURL and pass that string straight to the renderer.
This distinction matters because an HTTP request can succeed while returning an error page, and a successful fetch does not guarantee that the renderer supports every CSS feature used by the page. Treat fetching, status validation, rendering, and saving as separate steps so failures are easier to identify.
Install Dompdf and prepare PHP
Dompdf is a PHP HTML layout and rendering engine. Install it in a Composer-managed project, then load Composer’s autoloader in the script:
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composer require dompdf/dompdfCheck the requirements for the particular Dompdf release you install. The project lists PHP and extensions including DOM and mbstring, along with library dependencies. Your PHP command-line environment and the PHP environment serving web requests may load different extensions, so verify the environment that will actually run the conversion.
Fetch the page and save a PDF
This complete example retrieves a page, checks for a cURL transfer failure and a non-2xx HTTP status independently, renders the returned markup, and writes the PDF bytes to a file:
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use DompdfDompdf;
$url = 'https://example.com/page';
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$html = curl_exec($ch);
$curlError = curl_error($ch);
$status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($ch);
if ($html === false) {
throw new RuntimeException('cURL transfer failed: ' . $curlError);
}
if ($status < 200 || $status >= 300) {
throw new RuntimeException('Unexpected HTTP status: ' . $status);
}
$dompdf = new Dompdf();
$dompdf->loadHtml($html);
$dompdf->setPaper('A4', 'portrait');
$dompdf->render();
file_put_contents(__DIR__ . '/page.pdf', $dompdf->output());The example demonstrates the documented API flow; it has not been executed or tested here. Replace the example URL with the page you intend to convert. The output path is relative to the script’s directory, and the PHP process must have permission to write there.
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Why the two checks are separate
With CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER enabled, curl_exec() returns the response body as a string or false when the transfer fails. An HTTP status such as 404 is not itself a cURL transfer failure. Without the separate status check, the script could pass an error page’s HTML to Dompdf and save a perfectly valid PDF of the wrong content.
The sample accepts any 2xx status. If your application expects a specific response, tighten that rule—for example, require exactly 200—and decide explicitly whether redirects should be followed. Do not treat a nonempty response body alone as proof that the correct page was fetched.
Render an existing HTML string instead
If another part of your PHP program already holds the markup, omit the cURL section and call $dompdf->loadHtml($html) with that string. cURL is useful for obtaining HTML from a remote URL; it is not a required input stage for locally generated markup.
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Choose page layout and output behavior
setPaper() selects the paper size and orientation before rendering. The example uses A4 portrait. Choose a size and orientation suited to the document, and verify the result with the real content: long tables, wide images, and fixed-width layouts can paginate differently from a browser window.
render() creates the PDF representation. output() returns the PDF bytes, which the example writes with file_put_contents(). For a PHP web application, Dompdf also provides stream() to send a PDF download to the browser. Use one output approach appropriate to the request: save a server-side file when it must persist, or send a response when the user should download it immediately. A web response should not contain unrelated output before the PDF response.
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Dompdf is not a full browser engine. Its documentation describes it as mostly CSS 2.1 compliant and explicitly lists lack of flexbox and CSS Grid support. A page that looks correct in Chrome or Firefox may therefore reflow, lose positioning, or overflow when rendered by Dompdf.
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For predictable output, test representative templates and inspect the generated PDF rather than assuming browser fidelity. If a layout depends heavily on CSS Grid, flexbox, or other browser-specific behavior, either adjust the template to constructs supported by your chosen renderer or evaluate a renderer using a browser engine. Renderer choice depends on the HTML/CSS you need, runtime and extension availability, remote-resource policy, and required output fidelity; no one option is universally best.
Load images, stylesheets, and local files safely
Dompdf restricts access to remote and local resources. Remote images and stylesheets require its isRemoteEnabled option, and PHP must have cURL or allow_url_fopen available for URL fetching. Local file references must fall within the configured chroot paths.
Enable remote fetching only when the document needs it, and constrain local access to the directories the renderer actually requires. HTML can reference resources beyond the visible text, so feeding untrusted markup to a renderer with broad network or filesystem access creates avoidable risk. Keep the renderer’s permissions narrow and do not assume that HTML from an external source is safe merely because cURL retrieved it.
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When another renderer may fit better
Dompdf is a direct choice when you want to pass an HTML string into a PHP library and its CSS support suits the template. The current TCPDF project documentation describes tc-lib-pdf as rendering a subset of HTML and CSS directly without a browser engine. PHP’s wkhtmltox manual describes libwkhtmltox as using QtWebKit. These options differ in rendering approach and supported markup; compare them against your actual template and deployment environment before switching.
Troubleshoot common failures
curl_exec()returnsfalse: The transfer failed. Inspect the cURL error captured before closing the handle; check the URL, network reachability, TLS setup, and PHP’s cURL availability.- The script reports an unexpected HTTP status: The server answered, but not with a 2xx status. Check the URL and access requirements. A 404 response can still contain HTML, which is why the status must be handled separately from the transfer result.
- The PDF contains an error page or unexpected content: Inspect the fetched body and status before rendering. A server may return an HTML login, challenge, or error page instead of the intended document.
- Images or stylesheets are missing: Check whether they are remote or local. Remote resources require Dompdf’s remote option and PHP URL-fetch support; local paths must be permitted by
chroot. - The layout differs from the browser: Look for CSS unsupported by Dompdf, particularly flexbox or Grid. Adapt the template or test a renderer whose engine better matches the required layout.
- The PDF is not saved: Confirm the output directory exists and is writable by the PHP process. Check the return value of
file_put_contents()in production code and log a save failure separately from fetch or render errors. - Rendering several documents in a loop behaves inconsistently: Create a fresh Dompdf instance for each document. Dompdf warns that rendering state may persist if one instance is reused.
Performance, reliability, and operating cost
Each conversion includes a network fetch when the source is remote, followed by HTML parsing, layout, rendering, and output storage or transmission. A slow upstream page delays the whole job; a large or complex document also increases rendering work. For bulk or user-facing workflows, separate fetch and render errors in logs, set an application-level timeout policy, and avoid letting untrusted or unexpectedly large pages consume unlimited worker time or disk.
Validate behavior with the actual pages and PHP deployment that will run in production. Check required extensions, outbound HTTPS access, writable output locations, remote-resource settings, and the CSS constructs used by your templates. The PHP and renderer documentation can change, so confirm release-specific requirements when upgrading rather than assuming an old deployment checklist still applies.
Or skip the browser setup
If the source is a public webpage and you want a rendered capture rather than to fetch markup into Dompdf, ScreenshotNeo offers a one-request screenshot API that can return PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. It is a different workflow from converting an arbitrary HTML string with PHP: this cURL example captures a URL and saves the default image response as WebP.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpSee the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for the PDF and other capture options. Cookie banners, popups, and chat widgets are removed before the shot; bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are never billed. Its MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots, and the Free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. Sign up for free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I run the conversion from a command-line PHP script?
Yes. The example uses PHP functions and a Composer autoloader and writes the PDF to a filesystem path, so it can be run by PHP CLI if that environment has the required extensions and write permissions.
Can I convert HTML that requires JavaScript to build its content?
The documented Dompdf flow takes HTML markup and renders it; it is not a guarantee that client-side JavaScript will run to produce the page first. If the page depends on browser execution, assess a browser-engine rendering workflow against that requirement.
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