How to Take Website Screenshots with Java

Published April 3, 2026 · 6 min read · URLSnap Team

Need to capture website screenshots from a Java application? Whether you're building a Spring Boot microservice, a scheduled report generator, or an automated QA tool, this tutorial shows you how to go from URL to PNG image — no Selenium, no ChromeDriver, no browser process to manage.

We'll use the URLSnap REST API: send an HTTP request, receive an image back. Works out of the box with Java 11+'s built-in HttpClient and with popular libraries like OkHttp or Apache HttpClient.

Prerequisites

Java 11 or higher (for the built-in java.net.http.HttpClient). No external dependencies needed for the basic examples. OkHttp and Spring WebClient examples require their respective dependencies.

Step 1: Get a Free API Key

curl -X POST https://urlsnap.dev/api/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"you@example.com"}'

# {"key":"us_abc123...","message":"Free tier: 20 requests/day"}

Step 2: Take Your First Screenshot (Java 11+ HttpClient)

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.time.Duration;

public class ScreenshotExample {

    private static final String API_KEY = "us_your_key_here"; // get free at urlsnap.dev
    private static final String BASE_URL = "https://urlsnap.dev/api/screenshot";

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String targetUrl = "https://example.com";
        String encoded = URLEncoder.encode(targetUrl, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);

        HttpClient client = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(15))
            .build();

        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create(BASE_URL + "?url=" + encoded + "&format=png&full_page=true&width=1280"))
            .header("x-api-key", API_KEY)
            .timeout(Duration.ofSeconds(60))
            .GET()
            .build();

        HttpResponse<byte[]> response = client.send(
            request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofByteArray()
        );

        if (response.statusCode() != 200) {
            throw new RuntimeException("API error " + response.statusCode() +
                ": " + new String(response.body()));
        }

        Path output = Path.of("screenshot.png");
        Files.write(output, response.body());
        System.out.println("Screenshot saved to " + output.toAbsolutePath());
    }
}

All API Parameters

Reusable UrlSnapClient Class

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.StringJoiner;

public class UrlSnapClient {

    private final String apiKey;
    private final HttpClient http;

    public UrlSnapClient(String apiKey) {
        this.apiKey = apiKey;
        this.http = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(15))
            .build();
    }

    public record ScreenshotOptions(
        int width,
        int height,
        String format,   // "png" or "jpeg"
        boolean fullPage,
        int delayMs
    ) {
        public static ScreenshotOptions defaults() {
            return new ScreenshotOptions(1280, 800, "png", false, 0);
        }
    }

    public byte[] screenshot(String targetUrl, ScreenshotOptions opts) throws Exception {
        StringJoiner params = new StringJoiner("&");
        params.add("url=" + URLEncoder.encode(targetUrl, StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
        if (opts.width() > 0)    params.add("width=" + opts.width());
        if (opts.height() > 0)   params.add("height=" + opts.height());
        if (opts.format() != null) params.add("format=" + opts.format());
        if (opts.fullPage())      params.add("full_page=true");
        if (opts.delayMs() > 0)  params.add("delay=" + opts.delayMs());

        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create("https://urlsnap.dev/api/screenshot?" + params))
            .header("x-api-key", apiKey)
            .timeout(Duration.ofSeconds(60))
            .GET()
            .build();

        HttpResponse<byte[]> response = http.send(
            request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofByteArray()
        );

        if (response.statusCode() == 429) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Daily limit reached — upgrade at urlsnap.dev/#pricing");
        }
        if (response.statusCode() != 200) {
            throw new RuntimeException("API error " + response.statusCode() +
                ": " + new String(response.body()));
        }
        return response.body();
    }

    public byte[] pdf(String targetUrl, String pageFormat) throws Exception {
        String params = "url=" + URLEncoder.encode(targetUrl, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
            + "&format=" + pageFormat;

        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create("https://urlsnap.dev/api/pdf?" + params))
            .header("x-api-key", apiKey)
            .timeout(Duration.ofSeconds(60))
            .GET()
            .build();

        HttpResponse<byte[]> response = http.send(
            request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofByteArray()
        );

        if (response.statusCode() != 200) {
            throw new RuntimeException("PDF error " + response.statusCode() +
                ": " + new String(response.body()));
        }
        return response.body();
    }

    // Usage example:
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        UrlSnapClient client = new UrlSnapClient("us_your_key_here");
        ScreenshotOptions opts = new ScreenshotOptions(1280, 800, "png", true, 0);

        byte[] png = client.screenshot("https://example.com", opts);
        Files.write(Path.of("example.png"), png);
        System.out.println("Saved example.png (" + png.length + " bytes)");

        byte[] pdfBytes = client.pdf("https://example.com", "A4");
        Files.write(Path.of("example.pdf"), pdfBytes);
        System.out.println("Saved example.pdf (" + pdfBytes.length + " bytes)");
    }
}

Spring Boot Integration

// UrlSnapService.java — inject into any @Service or @Controller
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.client.WebClient;
import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;

@Service
public class UrlSnapService {

    private final WebClient webClient;

    public UrlSnapService(@Value("${urlsnap.api-key}") String apiKey) {
        this.webClient = WebClient.builder()
            .baseUrl("https://urlsnap.dev")
            .defaultHeader("x-api-key", apiKey)
            .build();
    }

    public Mono<byte[]> screenshot(String url, boolean fullPage) {
        return webClient.get()
            .uri(uriBuilder -> uriBuilder
                .path("/api/screenshot")
                .queryParam("url", url)
                .queryParam("format", "png")
                .queryParam("full_page", fullPage)
                .queryParam("width", 1280)
                .build())
            .retrieve()
            .bodyToMono(byte[].class);
    }

    public Mono<byte[]> pdf(String url, String pageFormat) {
        return webClient.get()
            .uri(uriBuilder -> uriBuilder
                .path("/api/pdf")
                .queryParam("url", url)
                .queryParam("format", pageFormat)
                .build())
            .retrieve()
            .bodyToMono(byte[].class);
    }
}

// application.properties:
// urlsnap.api-key=us_your_key_here

With OkHttp (Android / Retrofit-compatible)

import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.Response;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class OkHttpExample {

    private static final OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient.Builder()
        .connectTimeout(15, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
        .readTimeout(60, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
        .build();

    public static byte[] screenshot(String apiKey, String url) throws IOException {
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
            .url("https://urlsnap.dev/api/screenshot?url=" +
                java.net.URLEncoder.encode(url, "UTF-8") +
                "&format=png&full_page=true")
            .addHeader("x-api-key", apiKey)
            .build();

        try (Response response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
            if (!response.isSuccessful()) {
                throw new IOException("API error: " + response.code());
            }
            return response.body().bytes();
        }
    }
}

Check Your Daily Quota

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

public class QuotaCheck {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String apiKey = "us_your_key_here";
        HttpClient http = HttpClient.newHttpClient();

        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create("https://urlsnap.dev/api/me"))
            .header("x-api-key", apiKey)
            .GET()
            .build();

        HttpResponse<String> response = http.send(
            request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString()
        );

        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        JsonNode json = mapper.readTree(response.body());

        System.out.printf("Plan: %s%n", json.get("plan").asText());
        System.out.printf("Used today: %d/%d%n",
            json.get("requests_today").asInt(),
            json.get("daily_limit").asInt());
        System.out.printf("All-time total: %d%n", json.get("requests_total").asInt());
    }
}