How to generate bulk certificate in PHP using FPDF

• Tech Area
• Last updated on: January 8, 2026

In this tutorial, we discuss how to generate dynamic bulk certificate in PHP. To generate dynamic certificate you have to download FPDF. FPDF is a PHP class which allows to generate PDF files with pure PHP, that is to say without using the PDFlib library.

Files used in this tutorial:

1- connection.php (database connection file)

2- index.php (to generate bulk certificate)

Below are the step by step process of how to generate bulk certificate in PHP using FPDF.

Step 1: Create a Database connection

In this step, create a new file connection.php to create database connection.

connection.php

<?php
$server = "localhost";
$username = "root";
$password = "";
$database = "college_db";
$connection = mysqli_connect("$server","$username","$password");
$select_db = mysqli_select_db($connection, $database);
if(!$select_db)
{
	echo("connection terminated");
}
?>

Step 2: Create and Import Database

In this step, enter Database name and then click on Create button.

After successfully, click on Import tab and click Choose File then click Import button.

Step 3: Click on below link to download FPDF

http://www.fpdf.org/

Step 4: Design a certificate in .jpg/.jpeg format

Step 5: Download any suitable font file for certificate

In this step, download ‘Calibri_Regular’ font file.

Step 6: Create a folder to store dynamically generated certificate

In this step, create folder name ‘download-certificate’ to store dynamically generated certificate.

Step 7: Create index.php

In this step, create a new file index.php. This is the main file used to generate certificate.

index.php

<?php 
require('connection.php');
require('fpdf/fpdf.php');
header('content-type:image/jpeg');
$font = "C:/xamppp/htdocs/certificate/Calibri_Regular.ttf";
$select_query = mysqli_query($connection,"select * from certificate_details");
while($certificate = mysqli_fetch_array($select_query))
{
	$image = imagecreatefromjpeg("E-Certificate.jpg");
	$color = imagecolorallocate($image, 19,21,22);
	$id = $certificate['reference_no'];
	$name = $certificate['name'];
	imagettftext($image, 90,0,690,800, $color, $font, $id);
	imagettftext($image, 90,0,1110,800, $color, $font, $name);
	imagejpeg($image,"download-certificate/$id.jpg");
	imagedestroy($image);
}
?>

Step 8: Run the Program

Run the program using the URL: http://localhost/certificate/