Ghostscript command line parameters to convert EPS

Question

Just installed Ghostscript 8.54 for Windows.

Does anyone know of the minimum parameters to pass to gswin32c.exe to make it convert, say, someFile.eps to someFile.eps.pdf?

Answer 1

Since the question was about the "minimum parameters to pass to gswin32c.exe to make it convert, say, someFile.eps to someFile.eps.pdf", let me give an answer:

  c:/path/to/gswin32c.exe ^
    -sDEVICE=pdfwrite ^
    -o c:/path/to/output.pdf ^
    c:/path/to/input.eps

or even shorter:

  gswin32c ^
    -sDEVICE=pdfwrite ^
    -o output.pdf ^
    input.eps

This will use the builtin, default parameters for Ghostscript. The most important of which, from the top of my head, for the most recent version of Ghostscript are:

• -dPDFSETTINGS=/default ........ roughly the same settings as Adobe Distiller uses for "screen" with the following differences:
• -r720x720 .................................. resolution: 720 dpi (bitmaps/fonts requiring conversion to bitmap)
• -dColorConversionStrategy=/LeaveColorUnchanged ... (Distiller's "screen" uses =/sRGB)
• -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 .... (Distiller's "screen" uses =1.3)
• -dEmbedAllFonts=true [*]......... (Distiller's "screen" uses =false)
• -dOptimize=false [**] ............... (Distiller's "screen" uses =true)
• -dDownsample{Color,Gray,Mono}Images=false ... (Distiller's "screen" uses =true)

_{[*] By default, Ghostscript does not embed the classical "Base 14"-PostScript fonts. To enforce that, use an extra parameter (at the end of the command line!) like -c "<</NeverEmbed [ ]>>setdistillerparams" -f c:/path/to/input.pdf.
[**] Ghostscript's pdfwrite device cannot "optimize" a PDF when it is writing it the first time. To optimize, you have to call Ghostscript again for a second pass, using special parameters (you may also try -dOptimize=true).}

BTW, Ghostscript's most recent version is 8.71, available here: ghostscript.com/relases.

Answer 2

Under Windows, ps2pdf and other utilities are located in C:\Program Files\gs\gs#.##\lib as .bat and .cmd files. This isn't exactly obvious, especially if you're looking for .exe files.