stripdf.py

import argparse
import os
import sys

from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter # pip install pypdf

def main():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
        description='Simplify PDF by reading each page and writing out to a new file. Does not preserve metadata, permissions, bookmarks, etc.',
    )
    parser.add_argument('filename', type=str, help='The name of the PDF file to simplify')
    args = parser.parse_args()

    if not os.path.isfile(args.filename):
        print(f"Error: The file '{filename}' does not exist.")
        sys.exit(1)

    basename, ext = os.path.splitext(args.filename)
    outname = f"{basename}-strip{ext}"

    reader = PdfReader(args.filename)
    with PdfWriter() as w:
        for page in reader.pages:
            w.add_page(page)
        w.write(outname)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()