graphics package options

Synopsis (must be in the document preamble):

\usepackage[comma-separated option list]{graphics}

or

\usepackage[comma-separated option list]{graphicx}

The graphicx package has a format for optional arguments to the \includegraphics command that is convenient (it is the key-value format), so it is the better choice for new documents. When you load the graphics or graphicx package with \usepackage there are two kinds of available options.

The first is that LaTeX does not contain information about different output systems but instead depends on information stored in a printer driver file. Normally you should not specify the driver option in the document, and instead rely on your system’s default. One advantage of this is that it makes the document portable across systems.

For completeness here is a list of the drivers. The currently relevant ones are: dvipdfmx, dvips, dvisvgm, luatex, pdftex, xetex. The two xdvi and oztex are essentially aliases for dvips (and xdvi is monochrome). Ones that should not be used for new systems are: dvipdf, dvipdfm, dviwin, dvipsone, emtex, pctexps, pctexwin, pctexhp, pctex32, truetex, tcidvi, vtex (and dviwindo is an alias for dvipsone). These are stored in files with a .def extension, such as pdftex.def.

The second kind of options are below.

demo

Instead of an image file, LaTeX puts in a 150 pt by 100 pt rectangle (unless another size is specified in the \includegraphics command).

draft

For each graphic file, it is not shown but instead its file name is printed in a box of the correct size. In order to determine the size, the file must be present.

final

(Default) Override any previous draft option, so that the document shows the contents of the graphic files.

hiderotate

Do not show rotated text. (This allows for the possibility that a previewer does not have the capability to rotate text.)

hidescale

Do not show scaled text. (This allows for the possibility that a previewer does not have the capability to scale.)

hiresbb

In a PS or EPS file the graphic size may be specified in two ways. The %%BoundingBox lines describe the graphic size using integer multiples of a PostScript point, that is, integer multiples of 1/72 inch. A later addition to the PostScript language allows decimal multiples, such as 1.23, in %%HiResBoundingBox lines. This option has LaTeX to read the size from the latter.