Apple includes as part of the Printer Libraries, a small conversion utility. I presume it is used to help convert certain formats to either PDF or Postscript internally… But here’s some fun we can have with it.
For example, let’s say we have a file called “my.html”, but using this command line:
/System/Library/Printers/Libraries/convert -f my.html -o my.pdf
You would end up with a PDF version of the HTML file. Strings doesn’t reveal the Mime Type database, so I can’t tell what mime-types this will convert. My research indicates that it can handle most native formats from Mac OS X (rtf, Jpeg, gif, png, html, txt and more).
Usage: convert [ options ]
Options:
-f filename Set file to be converted (otherwise stdin)
-o filename Set file to be generated (otherwise stdout)
-i mime/type Set input MIME type (otherwise auto-typed)
-j mime/type Set output MIME type (otherwise application/pdf)
-P filename.ppd Set PPD file
-a ‘name=value …’ Set option(s)
-U username Set username for job
-J title Set title
-c copies Set number of copies
-u Remove the PPD file when finished
-D Remove the input file when finished