mozilla/pdf.js · error · FormatError

No shading resource found

Error message

No shading resource found

What it means

FormatError thrown while processing the shadingFill operator when the page/resources dictionary has no 'Shading' entry at all. A shadingFill must reference a shading by name, so the absence of any Shading resource makes the operator unresolvable.

Source

Thrown at src/core/evaluator.js:2130

                  localShadingPatternCache,
                  seenRefs
                )
              );
              return;
            }
            if (!isNumberArray(args, null)) {
              continue;
            }
            args = [cs.getRgbHex(args, 0)];
            fn = OPS.setStrokeRGBColor;
            break;

          case OPS.shadingFill:
            let shading;
            try {
              const shadingRes = resources.get("Shading");
              if (!shadingRes) {
                throw new FormatError("No shading resource found");
              }

              shading = shadingRes.get(args[0].name);
              if (!shading) {
                throw new FormatError("No shading object found");
              }
            } catch (reason) {
              if (reason instanceof AbortException) {
                continue;
              }
              if (self.options.ignoreErrors) {
                warn(`getOperatorList - ignoring Shading: "${reason}".`);
                continue;
              }
              throw reason;
            }
            const patternId = self.parseShading({
              shading,

View on GitHub (pinned to 5903d58d58)

Solutions

1. Enable ignoreErrors: true so the orphan shadingFill is skipped.
2. Repair the PDF: add the missing Shading resource dictionary or remove the shadingFill operator.
3. Upgrade PDF.js.

Example fix

// before
getDocument({ data }); // shadingFill without Shading resource aborts

// after
getDocument({ data, ignoreErrors: true }); // orphan shadingFill skipped

try {
  await page.render({ canvasContext, viewport }).promise;
} catch (e) {
  if (/No shading resource found/.test(e.message)) {
    await reloadWith({ ignoreErrors: true });
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: A content stream contains a 'sh' (shadingFill) operator, but resources.get('Shading') returns nothing (no Shading sub-dictionary on this stream/page).

Common situations: Content streams whose resource dictionary was stripped or where shadingFill was left in after the Shading resource was removed; cross-page content reuse with mismatched resources.

Related errors

• No shading object found
• Unknown PatternType: ${typeNum}
• Unknown PatternName: ${patternName}
• Unable to decode inline image: "${reason}".
• getOperatorList - ignoring circular reference: ${objId}

AI-assisted analysis of mozilla/pdf.js@5903d58d58 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aa83e479eee9ece1. Report an issue: GitHub.