perf(signatures): use Web Crypto API for hashing instead of @noble/hashes

[Mythie]

The hashData functions used during PDF signing hash the entire document
bytes through pure-JS @noble/hashes, which is ~10x slower than native
crypto for large inputs. Switch to crypto.subtle.digest() which
delegates to the platform's native implementation (OpenSSL/BoringSSL).

Benchmarked on a 23MB PDF: 80ms -> 8ms (9.8x faster).

[vercel]

The latest updates on your projects. Learn more about Vercel for GitHub.

Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
core	Ready	Preview, Comment	Mar 11, 2026 5:21am

[github-actions]

Benchmark Results

Comparison

Load PDF

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	2.21ms	3.50ms	±1.3%	226
pdf-lib	39.15ms	44.06ms	±3.9%	13
@cantoo/pdf-lib	38.63ms	43.22ms	±3.1%	14

Create blank PDF

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	55μs	120μs	±1.2%	9026
pdf-lib	395μs	1.35ms	±2.3%	1267
@cantoo/pdf-lib	429μs	1.61ms	±2.4%	1165

Add 10 pages

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	99μs	193μs	±1.0%	5047
pdf-lib	498μs	1.71ms	±2.5%	1005
@cantoo/pdf-lib	478μs	2.11ms	±3.1%	1046

Draw 50 rectangles

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	312μs	783μs	±1.4%	1604
pdf-lib	1.70ms	6.54ms	±6.8%	294
@cantoo/pdf-lib	1.93ms	5.23ms	±5.5%	259

Load and save PDF

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	2.44ms	4.63ms	±3.0%	205
pdf-lib	89.41ms	110.92ms	±7.7%	10
@cantoo/pdf-lib	158.00ms	166.20ms	±2.4%	10

Load, modify, and save PDF

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	42.36ms	55.52ms	±8.0%	12
pdf-lib	91.71ms	117.15ms	±8.8%	10
@cantoo/pdf-lib	160.51ms	174.74ms	±3.4%	10

Extract single page from 100-page PDF

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	3.73ms	6.31ms	±1.9%	135
pdf-lib	9.22ms	14.34ms	±3.0%	55
@cantoo/pdf-lib	9.57ms	11.79ms	±2.1%	53

Split 100-page PDF into single-page PDFs

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	33.82ms	44.78ms	±5.4%	15
pdf-lib	87.96ms	90.44ms	±2.3%	6
@cantoo/pdf-lib	96.35ms	120.69ms	±13.2%	6

Split 2000-page PDF into single-page PDFs (0.9MB)

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	605.44ms	605.44ms	±0.0%	1
pdf-lib	1.60s	1.60s	±0.0%	1
@cantoo/pdf-lib	1.67s	1.67s	±0.0%	1

Copy 10 pages between documents

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	4.62ms	6.37ms	±2.1%	109
pdf-lib	11.91ms	13.83ms	±1.6%	43
@cantoo/pdf-lib	13.40ms	14.67ms	±1.5%	38

Merge 2 x 100-page PDFs

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	14.83ms	39.03ms	±10.1%	34
pdf-lib	53.00ms	56.92ms	±2.4%	10
@cantoo/pdf-lib	61.99ms	69.39ms	±3.6%	9

Fill FINTRAC form fields

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	20.58ms	24.30ms	±2.9%	25
pdf-lib	33.10ms	39.89ms	±3.9%	16
@cantoo/pdf-lib	35.36ms	48.11ms	±8.7%	15

Fill and flatten FINTRAC form

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
libpdf	18.48ms	21.49ms	±2.8%	28
pdf-lib	FAILED	-	-	0
@cantoo/pdf-lib	37.87ms	45.20ms	±3.9%	14

Copying

Copy pages between documents

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
copy 1 page	1.00ms	2.44ms	±2.9%	500
copy 10 pages from 100-page PDF	4.42ms	6.92ms	±2.0%	114
copy all 100 pages	7.20ms	7.84ms	±0.9%	70

Duplicate pages within same document

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
duplicate page 0	866μs	1.51ms	±1.0%	578
duplicate all pages (double the document)	851μs	1.22ms	±0.8%	588

Merge PDFs

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
merge 2 small PDFs	1.40ms	1.78ms	±0.6%	358
merge 10 small PDFs	7.24ms	7.85ms	±0.8%	70
merge 2 x 100-page PDFs	13.05ms	13.47ms	±0.7%	39

Drawing

benchmarks/drawing.bench.ts

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
draw 100 rectangles	559μs	1.44ms	±2.8%	895
draw 100 circles	1.27ms	2.92ms	±2.8%	395
draw 100 lines	488μs	1.17ms	±1.5%	1026
draw 100 text lines (standard font)	1.55ms	2.42ms	±1.5%	323
create 10 pages with mixed content	1.30ms	2.13ms	±1.4%	386

Forms

benchmarks/forms.bench.ts

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
get form fields	3.25ms	7.74ms	±3.9%	154
fill text fields	11.89ms	16.09ms	±4.8%	43
read field values	2.91ms	4.47ms	±1.5%	172
flatten form	8.14ms	11.40ms	±2.8%	62

Loading

benchmarks/loading.bench.ts

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
load small PDF (888B)	58μs	142μs	±0.7%	8621
load medium PDF (19KB)	91μs	175μs	±0.5%	5467
load form PDF (116KB)	1.35ms	2.38ms	±1.6%	372
load heavy PDF (9.9MB)	2.23ms	2.63ms	±0.6%	225

Saving

benchmarks/saving.bench.ts

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
save unmodified (19KB)	107μs	264μs	±0.9%	4673
save with modifications (19KB)	752μs	1.39ms	±1.5%	666
incremental save (19KB)	177μs	391μs	±1.2%	2822
save heavy PDF (9.9MB)	2.13ms	2.54ms	±0.6%	236
incremental save heavy PDF (9.9MB)	5.29ms	13.70ms	±8.8%	95

Splitting

Extract single page

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
extractPages (1 page from small PDF)	971μs	2.14ms	±2.6%	515
extractPages (1 page from 100-page PDF)	3.44ms	3.87ms	±0.6%	146
extractPages (1 page from 2000-page PDF)	54.28ms	55.19ms	±0.6%	10

Split into single-page PDFs

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
split 100-page PDF (0.1MB)	30.72ms	37.55ms	±4.1%	17
split 2000-page PDF (0.9MB)	575.60ms	575.60ms	±0.0%	1

Batch page extraction

Benchmark	Mean	p99	RME	Samples
extract first 10 pages from 2000-page PDF	55.94ms	57.44ms	±0.9%	9
extract first 100 pages from 2000-page PDF	59.27ms	61.02ms	±1.3%	9
extract every 10th page from 2000-page PDF (200 pages)	63.40ms	66.57ms	±1.9%	8

Environment

• Runner: Linux (X64)
• Runtime: Bun 1.3.10

Results are machine-dependent.