Content Negotiation — Response Formats

The PdfBroker.io API supports multiple request and response formats. Choose the format that best fits your application architecture.

Sending Requests

The API accepts requests in two formats:

JSON Format

The standard REST API approach for most requests. Set the Content-Type header to application/json.

curl -X POST https://api.pdfbroker.io/api/pdf/... \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "document": "base64-encoded-content" }'

Multipart/Form-Data

An alternative format useful when transmitting binary data, such as images embedded in XSL-FO documents. Set the Content-Type header to multipart/form-data.

curl -X POST https://api.pdfbroker.io/api/pdf/... \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -F "document=@template.fo" \
  -F "resource1=@image.png"

Multipart Advantage

Encoding images as Base64 causes an increase of the request size by approximately 33% compared to the original format of the file. Using multipart/form-data allows direct binary transmission, reducing payload size significantly.

Receiving Responses

Control the response format by setting the Accept header:

Accept Header	Response Format
`application/json`	Returns the PDF as a Base64-encoded JSON response. Requires decoding before use.
`application/pdf`	Returns the generated PDF file directly as binary data.

JSON Response Example

{
    "document": "JVBERi0xLjQKMSAw...",
    "errorMessage": null
}

Binary PDF Response

When using Accept: application/pdf, the response body contains the raw PDF bytes. This is the most efficient option for saving or streaming the PDF directly.