For a quick local conversion, run wkhtmltoimage input.html output.png. For modern CSS and JavaScript, use headless Chromium with --screenshot. Chromium generally matches current browser rendering more closely; wkhtmltoimage is convenient when its older rendering engine is sufficient.
Choose the renderer before you convert
Your choice affects whether scripts run, how modern CSS is interpreted, what local files can be read, and how precisely you control the viewport.
| Method | Best for | JavaScript and modern CSS | Main controls | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
wkhtmltoimage |
Simple HTML files and repeatable CLI jobs | Supported, but uses its own older rendering stack | Width, height, delay, crop, zoom, quality, headers and cookies | Local-file access is restricted by default; complex modern layouts may differ from Chrome |
| Headless Chromium or Chrome | Pages that depend on current browser behavior | Uses the browser engine and executes page scripts | Viewport size and screenshot output | Headless command-line flags vary by installed release |
| ImageMagick | Resizing or converting an image after rendering | Does not render HTML or CSS | Resize, composite and image-format operations | It is post-processing, not an HTML renderer |
The practical recommendation is to start with Chromium for a script-heavy page or current CSS. Use wkhtmltoimage when its direct input/output workflow and options fit your document. This is a capability-based choice, not a published speed or success-rate benchmark.
Prepare the HTML file and output directory
- Save the document with a complete HTML structure and explicit CSS dimensions where possible.
- Use an absolute path when opening a local file. For example,
/home/alex/site/input.html. - Keep the output directory writable and decide whether the image should represent a fixed viewport or the whole document.
- Check that referenced stylesheets, images and fonts are reachable from the renderer. Relative URLs should resolve relative to the HTML file or page URL.
For a local document, an absolute URL has the form file:///home/alex/site/input.html. Three slashes are required before the absolute path.
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Method 1: convert HTML with wkhtmltoimage
Install and verify it
Ubuntu Jammy documents wkhtmltoimage as an HTML-to-image converter and lists package/manpage version 0.12.6-2. On an Ubuntu system using the standard package repositories, install the package that supplies the command, then verify the binary:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install wkhtmltopdf
wkhtmltoimage --versionPackage availability and versions can differ outside Jammy, so treat 0.12.6-2 as the Jammy documentation version rather than a promise about every Ubuntu release.
Basic local conversion
wkhtmltoimage input.html output.pngThe command accepts the input file first and the output file second. If you do not provide a height, the output height is calculated from the page content. That is useful for a long document, but a fixed height is preferable when every generated image must have the same dimensions.
Set viewport, delay and image loading
wkhtmltoimage
--width 1280
--height 2000
--javascript-delay 1000
--enable-javascript
--images
input.html output.png--widthand--heightdefine the rendering area.--javascript-delay 1000waits 1,000 milliseconds before capture. It can help content that appears shortly after initial parsing.--enable-javascriptenables script execution.--imagesenables image loading.
A delay is not a universal readiness test. A page may still be fetching data after the chosen interval, or it may never finish because a request failed. For pages with a reliable completion signal, wkhtmltoimage also documents --window-status, which can be used when the page sets the expected window status.
Control cropping, scale and quality
The Ubuntu manpage also documents --crop-w, --crop-h, --zoom and --quality. Cropping is useful when the HTML contains a large canvas but you need only a region; zoom changes the rendered scale before the image is written; quality affects formats that expose a quality setting. Keep the output dimensions explicit when a downstream process expects a fixed size.
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Allow local CSS, fonts and images safely
Local-file access is restricted by default. If the page needs assets in a known directory, allow only that directory:
wkhtmltoimage
--allow /home/alex/site/assets
/home/alex/site/input.html output.pngUse the narrowest asset directory that works. Explicitly enabling unrestricted local access is broader than necessary and can expose files that the page was not meant to read. If a stylesheet or font remains missing, confirm both its path and the renderer process’s permissions.
Pass headers or cookies when the page requires them
The manpage documents custom headers and cookies. This is useful for a page that needs an authentication cookie or a request header before it returns its final markup. Do not place long-lived credentials in shell history or a shared build log; provide them through the secret-management mechanism used by your CI system.
Method 2: use headless Chromium or Chrome
Capture a local HTML file
Chrome’s headless documentation defines --screenshot and recommends pairing it with --window-size:
chrome --headless=new
--screenshot
--window-size=1280,2000
file:///home/alex/site/input.htmlThe browser writes screenshot.png in the current working directory. If your workflow needs a different filename, rename it after the command:
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mv screenshot.png /home/alex/site/output.pngDepending on your installation, the executable may be named chromium, google-chrome or another vendor-specific name. Substitute the binary that is installed and inspect its --help output if a flag is rejected.
Capture a remote page
chrome --headless=new
--screenshot
--window-size=1280,2000
https://example.com/Headless Chromium processes the page as a browser does, including JavaScript that changes the DOM. Chrome’s --dump-dom documentation describes the same processing model: scripts run, the resulting DOM is parsed, and the serialized result is produced. That makes Chromium the safer choice when the screenshot depends on current browser APIs or client-side layout.
Account for the M132 headless change
The Chromium headless documentation notes that, from M132, the old headless implementation is no longer part of the Chrome binary. Current deployments may require the separate chrome-headless-shell. If --headless=new fails, check the installed browser version and its package documentation rather than copying flags from an older machine.
Wait for asynchronous content
The basic screenshot CLI does not define one universal selector-wait or network-idle flag. A fixed delay may work for a predictable page, but it can also capture too early or waste time. For an application that renders after an API call, use a browser-automation flow based on the DevTools protocol or a browser library and wait for the page’s actual ready condition, such as a selector that appears only after the data is present. Keep that readiness condition specific to the page; “wait one second” is not equivalent to “the page is ready.”
Render then post-process with ImageMagick
ImageMagick’s format reference covers PNG/APNG and many other image operations. Use it after HTML rendering, not as the renderer itself. For example, resize a Chromium or wkhtmltoimage result to a maximum width while preserving its aspect ratio:
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Dimensions, fidelity and repeatability
Pick a viewport deliberately
Responsive CSS can produce a different layout at 800 pixels and 1,280 pixels. Set --width and --height in wkhtmltoimage or --window-size in Chromium whenever the image is part of a test, documentation build or visual diff. For a full-page capture, allow the renderer to calculate the content height or use a sufficiently large height, then crop in a post-processing step if the consumer requires a fixed canvas.
Expect renderer differences
wkhtmltoimage and Chromium do not share a rendering stack. Fonts, flexbox behavior, newer CSS features and script timing can therefore produce different pixels. If a desktop browser is your visual reference, Chromium is generally the closer starting point because it uses the current browser engine. This is a practical inference from the documented capabilities, not a benchmark result.
Make builds deterministic
- Pin the browser or package version used by CI.
- Install the same fonts on every runner.
- Keep viewport dimensions and output paths explicit.
- Wait for a page-specific ready condition before capture.
- Record the renderer version with the generated artifact.
Troubleshooting common failures
The PNG is blank or shows stale content
- For wkhtmltoimage, increase
--javascript-delayonly after confirming that the page eventually renders. - Use a page-specific ready signal with browser automation when content arrives asynchronously.
- Check that the input URL or
file://path points to the intended file.
CSS, images or fonts are missing
- Resolve relative URLs from the document’s actual location.
- Confirm file permissions for the user running the command.
- With wkhtmltoimage, add a narrowly scoped
--allow /absolute/path/to/assets. - For remote assets, verify that the renderer can reach the host and that the resource does not require a missing header or cookie.
The dimensions are wrong
- Set wkhtmltoimage’s
--widthand--height. - Set Chromium’s
--window-size=width,height. - Crop the result afterward with ImageMagick when the page’s natural height is larger than the required canvas.
The result differs from Chrome on your desktop
Try Chromium headless first. wkhtmltoimage uses a separate rendering stack, so identical HTML does not guarantee identical pixels.
Chromium rejects a headless flag
Inspect the installed version and run the binary’s --help. The M132 transition removed the old headless implementation from the Chrome binary; a separate chrome-headless-shell may be the appropriate executable.
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A local file cannot read an unrelated directory
That restriction is expected in wkhtmltoimage. Move required assets below one project directory and allow only that directory, rather than granting broad filesystem access.
Or skip the browser setup
If the page is available at a URL, ScreenshotNeo returns a PNG, JPEG, WebP or PDF through one GET request. Its cleanup steps accept cookie or consent banners and remove more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups and chat widgets before capture; each step can be disabled. Clean shots are the only billable results: bot checks, CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads and cache hits cost nothing, and the response identifies the result with X-Page-Verdict and X-Billed headers.
See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for all options. The following examples use https://example.com; replace only the target URL and your API key.
cURL
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com -o shot.webpPython
import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://example.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)Node.js
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| Plan | Included shots | Price |
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Yearly billing gives two months free, and every feature is available on every plan. The API examples target a URL, so a private local file must first be made reachable at a URL; use wkhtmltoimage or Chromium directly when the file must remain local. Create a free ScreenshotNeo account to get 1,000 screenshots a month without a card.
FAQ
Is wkhtmltoimage 0.12.6-2 the version on every Ubuntu release?
No. That number is the version listed in the Ubuntu Jammy documentation. Check the package and manpage for the Ubuntu release you actually deploy.
Can ScreenshotNeo capture a file that exists only on my Ubuntu computer?
Not through the URL-based example above. A local-only file should be rendered with wkhtmltoimage or Chromium; ScreenshotNeo is appropriate after the page is available at a reachable URL.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is wkhtmltoimage 0.12.6-2 the version on every Ubuntu release?
No. That number is specific to the Ubuntu Jammy documentation; check the package for your installed Ubuntu release.
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No. The API captures a reachable URL, while a local-only file should be rendered with wkhtmltoimage or Chromium.
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