How to Load PDF from URL in Android?

Last Updated : 01 Apr, 2025

Most of the apps require to include support to display PDF files in their app. So if we have to use multiple PDF files in our app it is practically not possible to add each PDF file inside our app because this approach may lead to an increase in the size of the app and no user would like to download the app with such a huge size. So to tackle this issue related to the size we will load PDF files from the server directly inside our app without actually saving that files inside our app. Loading PDF files from the server will help us to manage the increase in the size of our app. So in this article, we will take a look at How to Load PDF files from URLs inside our Android App.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio.

Step 2: Add dependency to build.gradle(Module:app)

Navigate to the Gradle Scripts > build.gradle.kts (Module:app) and add the below dependency in the dependencies section.

dependencies {
    ...
    implementation ("com.github.mhiew:android-pdf-viewer:3.2.0-beta.3")
}

Refer to this github repo for the documentation

Now sync option will appear at the top right corner click on the sync now option.

Step 3: Add permission to the internet in your AndroidManifest.xml file

Add below two lines inside your AndroidManifest.xml file.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

Step 4: Working with the activity_main.xml file

Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file.

activity_main.xml:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout     xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:id="@+id/main"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent"     tools:context=".MainActivity">      <!--PDF Viewer to display our PDF-->     <com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.PDFView         android:id="@+id/pdfView"         android:layout_width="match_parent"         android:layout_height="match_parent" />  </LinearLayout>

Step 5: Working with the MainActivity file

Navigate to the app > java > your apps package name > MainActivity.java file. Below is the code for the MainActivity.java file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

MainActivity.java

package org.geeksforgeeks.demo;  import android.os.AsyncTask; import android.os.Bundle; import android.view.View; import android.widget.Toast;  import androidx.activity.EdgeToEdge; import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity; import androidx.core.view.ViewCompat; import androidx.core.view.WindowInsetsCompat;  import com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.PDFView;  import java.io.BufferedInputStream; import java.io.IOException; import java.io.InputStream; import java.net.HttpURLConnection; import java.net.URL;  import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;  public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {      // Declare the PDFView variable to display the PDF file.     private PDFView pdfView;      // URL of the PDF file to be loaded.     private static final String PDF_URL = "https://icseindia.org/document/sample.pdf";      @Override     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);         EdgeToEdge.enable(this);         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);          ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(findViewById(R.id.main), (v, insets) -> {             WindowInsetsCompat systemBars = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.systemBars());             v.setPadding(systemBars.left, systemBars.top, systemBars.right, systemBars.bottom);             return insets;         });          // Initialize the PDFView from the layout.         pdfView = findViewById(R.id.pdfView);          // Load the PDF from the specified URL.         new LoadPdfTask().execute(PDF_URL);     }      /**      * AsyncTask to load PDF in the background to prevent UI blocking.      */     private class LoadPdfTask extends AsyncTask<String, Void, InputStream> {          @Override         protected InputStream doInBackground(String... strings) {             return fetchPdfStream(strings[0]);         }          @Override         protected void onPostExecute(InputStream inputStream) {             if (inputStream != null) {                 pdfView.fromStream(inputStream).load();             } else {                 Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Failed to load PDF. Check your internet connection.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();             }         }     }      /**      * Fetches the PDF InputStream from the given URL.      * Uses HTTPS connection to securely download the PDF file.      */     private InputStream fetchPdfStream(String urlString) {         try {             URL url = new URL(urlString);             HttpsURLConnection urlConnection = (HttpsURLConnection) url.openConnection();              // Check if the connection response is successful (HTTP 200 OK).             if (urlConnection.getResponseCode() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {                 return new BufferedInputStream(urlConnection.getInputStream());             } else {                 return null;             }         } catch (IOException e) {             e.printStackTrace();             return null;         }     } }

MainActivity.kt

package org.geeksforgeeks.demo  import android.os.Bundle import androidx.activity.enableEdgeToEdge import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity import androidx.core.view.ViewCompat import androidx.core.view.WindowInsetsCompat import com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.PDFView import kotlinx.coroutines.CoroutineScope import kotlinx.coroutines.Dispatchers import kotlinx.coroutines.launch import kotlinx.coroutines.withContext import java.io.BufferedInputStream import java.io.IOException import java.io.InputStream import java.net.HttpURLConnection import java.net.URL import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection  class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {      // Declare the PDFView variable to display the PDF file.     private lateinit var pdfView: PDFView      // URL of the PDF file to be loaded.     private val pdfUrl = "https://icseindia.org/document/sample.pdf"      override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)         enableEdgeToEdge()         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)         ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(findViewById(R.id.main)) { v, insets ->             val systemBars = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.systemBars())             v.setPadding(systemBars.left, systemBars.top, systemBars.right, systemBars.bottom)             insets         }          // Initialize the PDFView from the layout.         pdfView = findViewById(R.id.pdfView)          // Load the PDF from the specified URL.         loadPdfFromUrl(pdfUrl)     }      // Loads the PDF file from the given URL using coroutines to prevent blocking the main thread.     private fun loadPdfFromUrl(url: String) {         CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO).launch {             // Fetch the InputStream of the PDF file.             val inputStream = fetchPdfStream(url)              // Switch back to the main thread to update UI.             withContext(Dispatchers.Main) {                 inputStream?.let {                     // Load the PDF into the PDFView.                     pdfView.fromStream(it).load()                 }             }         }     }      // Fetches the PDF InputStream from the given URL.     // Uses HTTPS connection to securely download the PDF file.     private fun fetchPdfStream(urlString: String): InputStream? {         return try {             val url = URL(urlString)             val urlConnection = url.openConnection() as HttpsURLConnection              // Check if the connection response is successful (HTTP 200 OK).             if (urlConnection.responseCode == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {                 BufferedInputStream(urlConnection.inputStream)             } else {                 null             }         } catch (e: IOException) {             // Print the error in case of a network failure.             e.printStackTrace()             null         }     } }

Output:

How to Use Custom Chrome Tabs in Android?

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