MuPDF vs Universal Viewer

MuPDF is an embeddable SDK for developers working with PDFs and other document formats in desktop, cloud/server, or embedded projects. It supports viewing, editing, extracting, signing, rendering, redacting, annotating, splitting, merging, compressing, and converting documents. Listed inputs include PDF, ePUB, image formats, SVG, CBZ, and XPS; outputs include PDF, text, HTML, PostScript, print formats, PNG, SVG, and PNM/PAM. Developer bindings include MuPDF Core, PyMuPDF, MuPDF.js, and MuPDF.NET. The open-source release is AGPL-licensed, and embedding it in a product may require a commercial license. For server-based use of the open-source software, the licensing terms require disclosure of application source code to users interacting with it. Commercial licenses provide an alternative without AGPL code disclosure and include technical support and free upgrades. The Commercial plan is listed at $299 a month and includes one licensed domain and one preview domain for testing; a 14-day trial is also listed. Open-source users can seek community help through Discord and the bug tracker.

Universal Viewer is a Windows desktop application for opening a wide range of file formats in one viewer. It handles images, multimedia, Word and Excel files, PDF, RTF, internet formats, text, and formats supported by Total Commander Lister plugins. Image support includes over 40 graphics formats and RAW images from 400+ cameras; its multimedia player supports over 170 formats without external codecs. In the Pro version, Word and Excel files including DOCX and XLSX open without MS Office, and a PDF plugin works without Adobe or Foxit Reader. Pro also adds complex RTF and RAW image support, an image panel with a Convert to feature, and highlighted text search. Text mode handles files of unlimited size, including those over 4 GB, with encodings such as Unicode and UTF-8. Windows Explorer context-menu integration provides a way to open files in the viewer. The free edition’s multimedia support depends on the Windows Media Player engine. Listed system requirements include Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and 11. The Pro version has a 15-day trial; paid access starts at $26.