High Peak Memory During ReadPdf on Large PDFs

1. Read in fixed page chunks

Split the document into fixed page chunks with PdfBarcodeReaderOptions.PageNumbers so only one chunk is in memory at a time. A smaller chunkSize lowers peak memory but adds more passes, so tune it to the environment's memory ceiling.

var barcodeMetadata = new List<BarcodeResult>();
var pageChunks = Enumerable.Range(1, pdf.PageCount)
    .GroupBy(i => i / 50)
    .Select(g => g.ToArray())
    .ToList();
foreach (var chunk in pageChunks)
{
    var readerOptions = new PdfBarcodeReaderOptions
    {
        ExpectMultipleBarcodes = true,
        ExpectBarcodeTypes = IronBarCode.BarcodeEncoding.AllOneDimensional,
        Speed = ReadingSpeed.Detailed,
        ScanMode = BarcodeScanMode.OnlyDetectionModel,
        DPI = 300,
        PageNumbers = chunk
    };
    Console.WriteLine($"Processing pages: Pages {chunk.First()}-{chunk.Last()}");
    var chunkResult = BarcodeReader.ReadPdf(pdf.Stream, readerOptions);
    if (chunkResult != null && chunkResult.Count > 0)
    {
        barcodeMetadata.AddRange(chunkResult);
    }
    // Optional memory pressure relief
    GC.Collect();
    GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
}
Console.WriteLine($"Total barcodes found: {barcodeMetadata.Count}");

var barcodeMetadata = new List<BarcodeResult>();
var pageChunks = Enumerable.Range(1, pdf.PageCount)
    .GroupBy(i => i / 50)
    .Select(g => g.ToArray())
    .ToList();
foreach (var chunk in pageChunks)
{
    var readerOptions = new PdfBarcodeReaderOptions
    {
        ExpectMultipleBarcodes = true,
        ExpectBarcodeTypes = IronBarCode.BarcodeEncoding.AllOneDimensional,
        Speed = ReadingSpeed.Detailed,
        ScanMode = BarcodeScanMode.OnlyDetectionModel,
        DPI = 300,
        PageNumbers = chunk
    };
    Console.WriteLine($"Processing pages: Pages {chunk.First()}-{chunk.Last()}");
    var chunkResult = BarcodeReader.ReadPdf(pdf.Stream, readerOptions);
    if (chunkResult != null && chunkResult.Count > 0)
    {
        barcodeMetadata.AddRange(chunkResult);
    }
    // Optional memory pressure relief
    GC.Collect();
    GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
}
Console.WriteLine($"Total barcodes found: {barcodeMetadata.Count}");

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Linq
Imports IronBarCode

Dim barcodeMetadata As New List(Of BarcodeResult)()
Dim pageChunks = Enumerable.Range(1, pdf.PageCount) _
    .GroupBy(Function(i) i \ 50) _
    .Select(Function(g) g.ToArray()) _
    .ToList()

For Each chunk In pageChunks
    Dim readerOptions As New PdfBarcodeReaderOptions With {
        .ExpectMultipleBarcodes = True,
        .ExpectBarcodeTypes = BarcodeEncoding.AllOneDimensional,
        .Speed = ReadingSpeed.Detailed,
        .ScanMode = BarcodeScanMode.OnlyDetectionModel,
        .DPI = 300,
        .PageNumbers = chunk
    }
    Console.WriteLine($"Processing pages: Pages {chunk.First()}-{chunk.Last()}")
    Dim chunkResult = BarcodeReader.ReadPdf(pdf.Stream, readerOptions)
    If chunkResult IsNot Nothing AndAlso chunkResult.Count > 0 Then
        barcodeMetadata.AddRange(chunkResult)
    End If
    ' Optional memory pressure relief
    GC.Collect()
    GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers()
Next

Console.WriteLine($"Total barcodes found: {barcodeMetadata.Count}")

Each iteration reads only the pages named in PageNumbers, so memory drops back between chunks rather than accumulating across the whole file.

2. Cache the PDF stream and reset its position

Read the stream into a local once before the loop, then rewind it per chunk. The Stream property may allocate on each access, so store it in var pdfStream = pdf.Stream; and call pdfStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin) before each chunk read.

3. Build the reader options once

Construct PdfBarcodeReaderOptions outside the loop and change only PageNumbers per chunk, rather than allocating a fresh options object every iteration.

4. Pre-size the results list

Initialize the results list with an estimated capacity to avoid repeated internal array doubling as results are added. The repro estimates roughly one barcode per ten pages as a starting figure.