CodeCogs®
fxTeX Server
Formerly LaTeXRender. fxTeX Server is the new name for the CodeCogs equation
rendering service that has run at https://latex.codecogs.com since 2005. It keeps the same
URL interface, so existing pages keep working: requests to https://latex.codecogs.com are
redirected to https://fxtex.codecogs.com automatically, and both addresses will continue to
answer. There is nothing you need to change.
fxTeX Server, at https://fxtex.codecogs.com, turns a LaTeX equation
into an image, or into MathML, from nothing more than a URL. Put the URL in an <img> tag and the equation appears — no script, no
library, nothing to install:
<img src="https://fxtex.codecogs.com/svg.image?x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}" />Because it is only a URL, it works anywhere a picture can go: a web page, a CMS field, a forum post, a wiki, an email, a mobile app, a slide deck.
Usage
A request is /type.format?LaTeX. type is what is produced, format is how it arrives:
| Type | Produces |
|---|---|
| mathml | MathML markup, with spoken text for screen readers. |
| mathml_nospeech | The same markup, without the spoken text. |
| svg | A vector image, every character an outline — needs no font installed. |
| svgtext | The same, characters left as text. Smaller and selectable, but needs the font. |
| png | That SVG rendered to a bitmap. |
| gif | The same, as a GIF. |
| Format | Delivery |
|---|---|
| image | The result itself — markup for mathml, the image bytes otherwise. |
| json | A JSON object wrapping the result, with any conversion errors. |
| download | As image, but sent as a file download. |
Access and registration covers licensing and domains; the API covers the rest.
Free for light use
fxTeX Server is free for light use, and nobody needs an account to try it. Beyond that it is a licensed service, and what you need depends on where the request comes from:
| Calling it from | What you need |
|---|---|
| A website | Register your domain. Every subdomain beneath it is covered automatically, and nothing needs adding to your pages — the browser tells us which site is asking. |
| A mobile or desktop app | A licence key, sent with each request. An app has no domain for us to recognise it by. |
| A server of your own | A licence key, as for an app. |
Unregistered use is not blocked. An equation from an unrecognised site still renders, with a small notice added beneath it; registering removes the notice. How domains and keys work, and the request allowance each one carries, are on Access and keys.
The Essential licence covers fxTeX Server: one domain and all its subdomains, or a licence key for an app, at a rate suitable for any ordinary site. Professional and Enterprise licences include it too, at higher rates. See licence options.
Coming from LaTeXRender
The URL format is unchanged — /type.format?LaTeX — and so is the
escaping. What is different underneath is that fxTeX Server no longer runs TeX for each request:
it converts LaTeX to MathML and lays that out itself, which makes it very much faster and gives
every equation an accessible, spoken form. In practice:
Old URLs keep working. https://latex.codecogs.com
redirects here, and the older .latex form —
png.latex?x^2, gif.latex?x^2 — is still accepted as a synonym for
.image.
New outputs. mathml, mathml_nospeech
and svgtext are new.
EMF has gone. Use svg or pdf for a
vector image instead.
Colours are CSS colours. \bg{} and
\fg{} take any CSS colour name or a hex value. The old list of preset names that were
not CSS colours has been dropped.
Apps need a key. An app sends no Referer, so it cannot be recognised by domain. See Mobile apps.
Allowances, not quotas. Use is rate-limited per domain rather than counted per equation. See How many equations.
Not a TeX installation. The converter covers LaTeX's maths
— including amsmath, \ce{} chemistry and a wide range of
symbols — but it does not load arbitrary packages or custom .sty files. If an
equation depends on one, tell us which.
fxTeX Server and fxTeX
fxTeX Server and fxTeX share one converter. fxTeX is that converter compiled to JavaScript, running in the reader's browser: it turns the LaTeX already on a page into MathML with no request to us at all, and is free and unlimited.
Use fxTeX on your own web pages. Use fxTeX Server wherever a script cannot run — an email, a feed, a CMS that strips scripts, an app — or when you need an image file rather than markup. The two are often used together: fxTeX's own right-click menu fetches its Copy as SVG and Copy as PNG images from fxTeX Server.
More
API — the URL format, output types, size and colour options, and JSON.
Access and keys — registering a domain, licence keys for apps, and request allowances.
Self-hosting — running fxTeX Server inside your own network.
Speed — the 57 equations from the fxTeX benchmark, requested from the service and timed in your browser.
fxTeX — the same converter in the browser, free and with no server at all.