diff --git a/generators/poppler/generator_pdf.cpp b/generators/poppler/generator_pdf.cpp
--- a/generators/poppler/generator_pdf.cpp
+++ b/generators/poppler/generator_pdf.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <qstack.h>
 #include <qtemporaryfile.h>
 #include <qtextstream.h>
+#include <QComboBox>
 #include <QPrinter>
 #include <QPainter>
 #include <QTimer>
@@ -75,6 +76,13 @@
     Q_OBJECT
 
    public:
+
+       enum PrintBackend {
+            CUPSBackend,
+            QPrinterBackend
+       };
+       Q_ENUM(PrintBackend)
+
        PDFOptionsPage()
        {
            setWindowTitle( i18n( "PDF Options" ) );
@@ -87,11 +95,38 @@
            m_forceRaster->setToolTip(i18n("Rasterize into an image before printing"));
            m_forceRaster->setWhatsThis(i18n("Forces the rasterization of each page into an image before printing it. This usually gives somewhat worse results, but is useful when printing documents that appear to print incorrectly."));
            layout->addWidget(m_forceRaster);
+
+           m_printBackend = new QComboBox;
+           // Windows can only print with the QPrinter backend, because the CUPS backend
+           // is UNIX-specific.
+#if !defined(Q_OS_WIN)
+           m_printBackend->insertItem(CUPSBackend, i18n("CUPS"), CUPSBackend);
+           m_printBackend->setItemData(CUPSBackend, xi18n("Print using the CUPS printing system.<nl/>This will convert your PDF file to PostScript first,<nl/>and then send the PostScript file to the printer."), Qt::ToolTipRole);
+           m_printBackend->setItemData(CUPSBackend, xi18n("Print using the CUPS printing system.<nl/>This will convert your PDF file to PostScript first,<nl/>and then send the PostScript file to the printer."), Qt::WhatsThisRole);
+#endif
+
+           // Print using the platform-independent Qt infrastructure. By necessity,
+           // this uses a backend of the Poppler PDF library which is called 'Arthur'.
+           // This Arthur backend is still somewhat immature, and you may see misrenderings
+           // of your PDF document.  In fact, the backend is so bad before poppler 0.60
+           // that we'd rather not expose the QPrinter option at all for older poppler versions.
+           // On Windows we have no choice, because there the CUPS backend will not work.
+           // On the positive side, QPrinter printing allows more printing options.
+#if defined(Q_OS_WIN) || HAVE_POPPLER_0_60
+           m_printBackend->insertItem(QPrinterBackend, i18n("QPrinter (experimental)"), QPrinterBackend);
+           m_printBackend->setItemData(QPrinterBackend, i18n("Print with Qt (experimental, you may see rendering artifacts)"), Qt::ToolTipRole);
+#endif
+           QWidget* formWidget = new QWidget(this);
+           QFormLayout *printBackendLayout = new QFormLayout(formWidget);
+           printBackendLayout->addRow(i18n("Print backend:"), m_printBackend);
+           layout->addWidget(formWidget);
+
            layout->addStretch(1);
 
 #if defined(Q_OS_WIN) && !defined HAVE_POPPLER_0_60
            m_printAnnots->setVisible( false );
 #endif
+
            setPrintAnnots( true ); // Default value
        }
 
@@ -115,9 +150,16 @@
            m_forceRaster->setChecked( forceRaster );
        }
 
+       PrintBackend printBackend() const
+       {
+           return m_printBackend->currentData().value<PrintBackend>();
+       }
+
+
     private:
         QCheckBox *m_printAnnots;
         QCheckBox *m_forceRaster;
+        QComboBox *m_printBackend;
 };
 
 
@@ -1269,32 +1311,25 @@
 {
     bool printAnnots = true;
     bool forceRasterize = false;
+    PDFOptionsPage::PrintBackend printBackend = PDFOptionsPage::CUPSBackend;
 
     if ( pdfOptionsPage )
     {
         printAnnots = pdfOptionsPage->printAnnots();
         forceRasterize = pdfOptionsPage->printForceRaster();
+        printBackend = pdfOptionsPage->printBackend();
     }
 
-#ifdef Q_OS_WIN
-    // Windows can only print by rasterization, because that is
-    // currently the only way Okular implements printing without using UNIX-specific
-    // tools like 'lpr'.
-    forceRasterize = true;
-#ifndef HAVE_POPPLER_0_60
-    // The Document::HideAnnotations flags was introduced in poppler 0.60
-    printAnnots = true;
-#endif
-#endif
-
-#ifdef HAVE_POPPLER_0_60
-    if ( forceRasterize )
-    {
-        pdfdoc->setRenderHint(Poppler::Document::HideAnnotations, !printAnnots);
-#else
-    if ( forceRasterize && printAnnots)
+    if ( printBackend == PDFOptionsPage::QPrinterBackend )
     {
+#ifdef HAVE_POPPLER_0_60
+        // The Document::HideAnnotations flags was introduced in poppler 0.60
+        pdfdoc->setRenderHint( Poppler::Document::HideAnnotations, !printAnnots );
 #endif
+
+        // Scale to the entire page, not only the printable area
+        printer.setFullPage( true );
+
     QPainter painter;
     painter.begin(&printer);
 
@@ -1311,6 +1346,8 @@
         Poppler::Page *pp = pdfdoc->page( page );
         if (pp)
         {
+                if ( forceRasterize )
+                {
 #ifdef Q_OS_WIN
             QImage img = pp->renderToImage(  printer.physicalDpiX(), printer.physicalDpiY() );
 #else
@@ -1318,6 +1355,16 @@
             QImage img = pp->renderToImage( 300, 300 );
 #endif
             painter.drawImage( painter.window(), img, QRectF(0, 0, img.width(), img.height()) );
+                } else {
+                    // temporarily switch to poppler's Arthur backend.
+                    // It is the only one that implements renderToPainter.
+                    auto actualRenderBackend = pdfdoc->renderBackend();
+                    pdfdoc->setRenderBackend( Poppler::Document::ArthurBackend );
+
+                    pp->renderToPainter( &painter, printer.logicalDpiX(), printer.logicalDpiY() );
+
+                    pdfdoc->setRenderBackend( actualRenderBackend );
+                }
             delete pp;
         }
         userMutex()->unlock();