Issue:
You’re calling the PDF.co API and getting a link back, but:
The link looks broken or unusable
The link has strange characters like
\u0026instead of&The link doesn’t work when copied into a browser
This usually happens when using API clients like cURL or other tools that don’t automatically parse JSON.
Example raw response from cURL:
{"url": "https://pdf-temp-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/...sample.pdf?X-Amz-Expires=3600\u0026X-Amz-Security-Token=..."}
Notice the
\u0026→ this is a valid JSON-escaped version of &.JSON parsers automatically decode this →
&But tools like cURL will show it as-is unless you parse the JSON first.
Solution: Parse the JSON response before using the URL
Before using the output link in your app, browser, or follow-up API call, you need to:
Decode the JSON response.
→ Use a JSON parser to process the output from PDF.co.
Extract the
urlvalue after decoding.
→ The decoded\u0026will turn into a usable & character.
Example:
If using JavaScript:
const response = '{"url":"https://...\\u0026..."}';
const parsed = JSON.parse(response);
console.log(parsed.url); // ✅ prints usable URL
If using cURL, pipe it into a JSON parser like jq:
curl -X POST ... | jq -r '.url'
Why this happens
PDF.co’s API responses are valid JSON. The long signed URL contains & symbols, which get escaped as \u0026 inside JSON for safety.
Without JSON parsing, you’ll see the raw escaped form → the browser won’t understand it → link fails.
After JSON parsing, the link works normally.
Helpful tips
Tools like Zapier, Make, Postman already handle JSON parsing → no action needed.
Tools like cURL, plain HTTP requests, some code editors → need manual JSON parsing.
Don’t manually copy raw JSON URLs → always extract them from parsed JSON.