Blank PDF — Download an Empty Page
Three genuinely blank PDFs: a single empty A4 page, a single empty US Letter page, and a five-page document whose pages carry only a page number. No watermark, no invisible text layer, no "this page intentionally left blank" — the content stream is actually empty. 1.3 KB each for the single pages.
What people actually use a blank PDF for
- Spacer pages — insert one between documents when merging, so double-sided printing starts each section on a fresh sheet.
- Placeholder in a document pipeline — some systems require "a PDF" before the real one exists; a 1.3 KB blank keeps the slot warm without confusing anyone with fake content.
- Baseline for testing — the smallest valid PDF your code should be able to open. If your parser chokes on this file, the bug is fundamental.
- Signature / stamp canvas — a clean page to place a signature on, then merge behind a contract.
- Print tray tests — a page that costs no toner to verify a printer, duplexer, or paper size setting.
Blank vs. near-blank — why both exist
sample-blank-a4.pdf has an empty content stream: no fonts embedded, no text
objects, nothing. That's the right file for "does my code handle a page with no resources"
tests. blank-pages.pdf is near-blank — each page shows just its page
number — which is what you want when testing reorder,
delete pages, or extract: after the
operation you can still see which original page ended up where. A truly blank multi-page file
would make that impossible to verify by eye.
A4 or Letter?
A4 (210 × 297 mm) is the standard everywhere except the US and Canada, where Letter (8.5 × 11 in) rules. They differ by a few millimeters in each direction — enough to trigger scaling behavior in printers and viewers. If you're testing layout code, test both; the Letter page is slightly wider and shorter, and mixed-size documents are a classic source of rendering bugs. To check a file's page size, drop it into the inspector.
FAQ
Is there really nothing in the file?
The single-page blanks contain a page object with an empty content stream, plus standard document metadata (title, producer). No fonts, no images, no JavaScript. Verify it yourself in the metadata inspector — the whole file is 1.3 KB.
Can I print it as blank paper?
Yes — printing it produces an empty sheet. That's occasionally useful for feeding a "PDF required" print workflow a deliberate blank.
How do I make a blank PDF myself?
Nearly every PDF library has a three-line version: create document, add page, save. These files come from pdf-lib's doc.addPage(PageSizes.A4) — the generator script is open source.
Can I use it commercially?
Yes — CC0, no attribution, no restrictions. It's a blank page; it would be a strange thing to gatekeep.