API Documentation

Complete reference for the FileConvertLab REST API.

Authentication

All API requests require authentication using an API key. Include your key in theX-API-Key header with every request.

X-API-Key: sk_live_your_api_key_here

Include your API key in the X-API-Key header with every request.

Base URL

https://fileconvertlab.com/api/v1

Create Conversion Job

Submit a file for conversion. The API uses an asynchronous job-based workflow.

POST/v1/jobs

Request

Content-Type: multipart/form-data

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`file`	binary	Yes	The file to convert
`operation`	string	Yes	Conversion operation (see Operations)
`options`	JSON	No	Operation-specific options
`webhook_url`	string	No	URL to receive completion notification

Response (202 Accepted)

{
  "id": "job_abc123xyz",
  "status": "processing",
  "operation": "pdf-to-word",
  "created_at": "2025-12-07T10:30:00Z",
  "estimated_seconds": 15,
  "file": {
    "name": "document.pdf",
    "size": 1048576,
    "mime_type": "application/pdf"
  }
}

Get Job Status

Check the status of a conversion job. Poll this endpoint until status iscompleted,failed orrejected.

GET/v1/jobs/{job_id}

Response

{
  "id": "job_abc123xyz",
  "status": "completed",
  "operation": "pdf-to-word",
  "progress": 100,
  "created_at": "2025-12-07T10:30:00Z",
  "completed_at": "2025-12-07T10:30:12Z",
  "result": {
    "download_url": "/v1/jobs/job_abc123xyz/download",
    "expires_at": "2025-12-07T11:30:12Z",
    "file_name": "document.docx",
    "file_size": 524288
  }
}

Status Values

Status	Description
`pending`	Job is queued for processing
`processing`	Conversion is in progress
`completed`	Conversion finished successfully
`failed`	Conversion failed (see error field)
`rejected`	Input file failed validation — no conversion ran (see error field)

Download Result

Download the converted file. Only available after job status iscompleted.

GET/v1/jobs/{job_id}/download

Returns the binary file with appropriate Content-Type and Content-Disposition headers.

Supported Operations

PDF Conversions

Operation	Input	Output	Options
`pdf-to-word`	PDF	DOCX	—
`pdf-to-excel`	PDF	XLSX	—
`pdf-to-ppt`	PDF	PPTX	—
`pdf-to-png`	PDF	PNG/ZIP	`dpi`: 72-600
`pdf-to-jpeg`	PDF	JPEG/ZIP	`dpi`, `quality`

Office to PDF

Operation	Input	Output
`word-to-pdf`	DOCX, DOC	PDF
`excel-to-pdf`	XLSX, XLS	PDF
`ppt-to-pdf`	PPTX, PPT	PDF
`png-to-pdf`	PNG	PDF
`jpeg-to-pdf`	JPEG	PDF

OCR Operations

Operation	Input	Output	Options
`ocr-pdf`	Scanned PDF	Searchable PDF	`language`
`ocr-to-word`	PDF, Image	DOCX	`language`

OCR Languages

Supported language codes for OCR operations:

engdeufraspaporruschi_simchi_trajpnkor+ 9 more

PDF Utilities

Operation	Input	Output	Options
`compress-pdf`	PDF	Compressed PDF	`level`: low, medium, high

Rate Limits

Plan	Requests/min	Requests/day	Max File Size
Pro	50	1,000	500 MB

Rate Limit Headers

Every response includes rate limit information:

X-RateLimit-Limit: 50

X-RateLimit-Remaining: 45

X-RateLimit-Reset: 1701962400

Error Handling

Error Response Format

{
  "error": {
    "code": "INVALID_FILE_TYPE",
    "message": "Expected PDF file, got image/png",
    "details": {
      "expected": ["application/pdf"],
      "received": "image/png"
    }
  }
}

Error Codes

HTTP	Code	Description
400	`INVALID_FILE_TYPE`	Wrong file format for operation
400	`FILE_TOO_LARGE`	File exceeds size limit
400	`INVALID_OPERATION`	Unknown operation type
401	`UNAUTHORIZED`	Missing or invalid API key
404	`JOB_NOT_FOUND`	Job ID does not exist
410	`JOB_EXPIRED`	Result file was deleted
429	`RATE_LIMITED`	Too many requests
500	`INTERNAL_ERROR`	Server error
502	`CONVERSION_FAILED`	Conversion engine error

Code Examples

cURL

 Create conversion job

curl -X POST https://fileconvertlab.com/api/v1/jobs \

  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_abc123" \

  -F "file=@document.pdf" \

  -F "operation=pdf-to-word"

 Check job status

curl https://fileconvertlab.com/api/v1/jobs/job_abc123 \

  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_abc123"

 Download result

curl -O https://fileconvertlab.com/api/v1/jobs/job_abc123/download \

  -H "X-API-Key: sk_live_abc123"

JavaScript

const formData = new FormData();
formData.append('file', fileInput.files[0]);
formData.append('operation', 'pdf-to-word');

// Create job
const response = await fetch('https://fileconvertlab.com/api/v1/jobs', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'sk_live_abc123' },
  body: formData
});
let job = await response.json();

// Poll until complete
while (job.status === 'processing') {
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000));
  const res = await fetch(`https://fileconvertlab.com/api/v1/jobs/${job.id}`, {
    headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'sk_live_abc123' }
  });
  job = await res.json();
}

// Download result
if (job.status === 'completed') {
  window.location.href =
    `https://fileconvertlab.com${job.result.download_url}`;
}

Python

import requests
import time

API_KEY = 'sk_live_abc123'
BASE_URL = 'https://fileconvertlab.com/api/v1'
headers = {'X-API-Key': API_KEY}

# Create job
with open('document.pdf', 'rb') as f:
    response = requests.post(
        f'{BASE_URL}/jobs',
        headers=headers,
        files={'file': f},
        data={'operation': 'pdf-to-word'}
    )
job = response.json()

# Poll until complete
while job['status'] == 'processing':
    time.sleep(1)
    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}/jobs/{job['id']}",
        headers=headers
    )
    job = response.json()

# Download result
if job['status'] == 'completed':
    response = requests.get(
        f"{BASE_URL}{job['result']['download_url']}",
        headers=headers
    )
    with open('document.docx', 'wb') as f:
        f.write(response.content)

Need help integrating?

Check out the CLI tool for quick command-line conversions, or browse the examples above.

CLI Tool Documentation