How to convert PDF to EPS?

Question

I can't find a tool to convert PDF to EPS, neither in MikTeX nor in TeXLive. Is there such a tool actually?

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Update:

Based on Herbert's accepted answer, I simplify his batch as follows:

#!/bin/sh
# $Id: pdf2eps,v 0.01 2005/10/28 00:55:46 Herbert Voss Exp $
# Convert PDF to encapsulated PostScript.
# usage:
# pdf2eps <page number> <pdf file without ext>

pdfcrop "$2.pdf" "$2-temp.pdf"
pdftops -f $1 -l $1 -eps "$2-temp.pdf" "$2.eps"
rm  "$2-temp.pdf"

For Windows users, create a batch file, name it pdf2eps.bat as follows:

rem pdf2eps <page number> <pdf file without ext>
echo off
pdfcrop "%2.pdf" "%2-temp.pdf"
pdftops -f %1 -l %1 -eps "%2-temp.pdf" "%2.eps"
del  "%2-temp.pdf"

Answer 1

Here is a Linux script pdf2eps, can easily be traslated into a batch script

#!/bin/sh
# $Id: pdf2eps,v 0.01 2005/10/28 00:55:46 Herbert Voss Exp $
# Convert PDF to encapsulated PostScript.
# usage:
# pdf2eps <page number> <pdf file without ext>

pdfcrop $2.pdf
pdftops -f $1 -l $1 -eps "$2-crop.pdf" 
rm  "$2-crop.pdf"
mv  "$2-crop.eps" $2.eps

Answer 2

Providing such a tool is not the task of a TeX distribution. You need to use an external tool.

There are a couple of them which should be able to convert PDF to EPS, sometimes by going over PS first.

I can recommend the following 3 tools which produce nice results for me:

• Inkscape (Vector graphic editor, free & multi-platform)

  Can be either used using the GUI (open PDF, save as EPS) or using the command line (tested under Linux only):

  inkscape input.pdf --export-eps=output.eps
  

• Acrobat Reader (Linux Version) + ps2eps (TeXLive)

  acroread -toPostScript input.pdf
  ps2eps input.ps
  

• Ghostscript (multi-platform)
  Note: -dNOCACHE is needed to prevent GhostScript from rastering the fonts.

  gs -q -dNOCACHE -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER -sDEVICE=epswrite -sOutputFile=output.eps input.pdf
  

There are also the following tools. I didn't tested all of them and some raster the fonts :-( !

• ImageMagick convert (which might use Ghostscript itself. Calling it manually if more flexible and might avoid issues. convert might actually raster the PDF!)

  convert input.pdf output.eps
  

• pdf2ps (uses Ghostscript) + ps2eps (comes with TeXLive)
• pdftops (part of poppler), use the -eps switch for EPS output.

and most likely more.