XETEX(1)                    General Commands Manual                   XETEX(1)

NAME
       xetex - extended TeX with native support for Unicode, OpenType, system
       fonts

SYNOPSIS
       xetex [options] [&format] [file|\commands]

DESCRIPTION
       XeTeX (xetex) is a TeX engine with native support for Unicode,
       OpenType, and system-installed fonts, using third-party libraries such
       as ICU, HarfBuzz, and FreeType. It outputs an extended dvi format
       (xdv), which by default is translated to pdf by xdvipdfmx(1).

       XeTeX includes the e-TeX extensions and many extensions from pdfTeX,
       sometimes using different primitive names.

OPTIONS
       For the common TeX command-line options and handling, see tex(1).  The
       following XeTeX-specific options are also supported:

       -no-pdf
              Generate XeTeX's extended DVI (.xdv) output instead of pdf.

       -output-driver cmd
              Run cmd instead of xdvipdfmx to translate xdv to pdf.

       -papersize string
              Set pdf media size to string.

       Options removed: -draftmode, -enc, -ipc, -ipc-start, -translate-file.

ENVIRONMENT
       See tex(1) and pdftex(1).

FILES
       See tex(1).  Also:

       $TEXMFMAIN/tex/generic/tex-ini-files/xetex.ini
              The driver file that builds the plain format file for XeTeX,
              xetex.fmt, in TeX Live.

BUGS
       See tex(1).

SEE ALSO
       tex(1), dvipdfmx(1), etex(1), latex(1), luatex(1), pdftex(1).

       TUGboat articles by Jonathan Kew:
       https://tug.org/TUGboat/listauthor.html#Kew,Jonathan
       Home page: https://tug.org/xetex
       XeTeX package page on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/xetex
       XeTeX reference manual: https://ctan.org/pkg/xetexref
       Web2c manual: https://tug.org/web2c
       Kpathsea manual: https://tug.org/kpathsea
       Sources for the TeX-world literate programs, as pdf, including XeTeX:
       https://ctan.org/pkg/knuth-pdf

AUTHORS
       XeTeX was created and is maintained by Jonathan Kew and others. It is
       released as part of TeX Live. This manual page was written by Karl
       Berry. It is released to the public domain.

       Bug reports: https://sourceforge.net/p/xetex/bugs/
       Public discussion list for pdfTeX-specific issues:
       https://lists.tug.org/pdftex
       Public discussion list for TeX Live: https://lists.tug.org/tex-live
       Public discussion list for all things TeX: https://lists.tug.org/texhax

Web2C 2026                      1 February 2026                       XETEX(1)