Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed by Adobe Systems for representing documents. It has evolved steadily since 1993. The aim was to create a file format for electronic documents, that is system- and platform-independent and can contain information such as text, graphics, and multimedia elements like sound, animations, and movies. At the same time, PDF files remain compact and have the much reduced file sizes as other file formats such PostScript and TIFF.
PDF is an open standard, that is widely used as a format for creating electronic documents, as well as for exchanging and archiving data. Since version 1.7, it has been certified by ISO as an official ISO standard.
It is relevant to mention that PDF has a number of subsets:
- PDF/X ("PDF for Exchange"
- PDF/A ("PDF for Archive")
- PDF/E ("PDF for Engineering")
- PDF/VT ("PDF for exchange of variable data and transactional (VT) printing")
- PDF/UA ("PDF for Universal Accessibility")
- PDF/raster 1.0 (for storing, transporting and exchanging multi-page raster-image documents, especially scanned documents)
In the context of CLARIN's language data preservation efforts, centres and users are advised to prioritize PDF/A over PDF.
- Adobe Systems Incorporated. (2009). Adobe® Supplement to ISO 32000-1. BaseVersion: 1.7. ExtensionLevel: 5 [Online]. Available: http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/pdf/pdfs/adobe_supplement_iso32000_1.pdf
- PDF Association. (2020). ISO 32000-2:2020 (PDF 2.0) [Online]. Available: https://www.pdfa.org/resource/iso-32000-2-pdf-2-0/
- PDF Association. (2020). The new PDF 2.0 and subset standards [Online]. Available: https://www.pdfa.org/the-new-pdf-2-0-and-subset-standards/
"ISO 32000-1:2008 specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents independent of the environment in which they were created or the environment in which they are viewed or printed. It is intended for the developer of software that creates PDF files (conforming writers), software that reads existing PDF files and interprets their contents for display and interaction (conforming readers) and PDF products that read and/or write PDF files for a variety of other purposes (conforming products).
ISO 32000-1:2008 does not specify the following:
- specific processes for converting paper or electronic documents to the PDF format;
- specific technical design, user interface or implementation or operational details of rendering;
- specific physical methods of storing these documents such as media and storage conditions;
- methods for validating the conformance of PDF files or readers;
- required computer hardware and/or operating system."
This document specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents independent of the environment in which they were created or the environment in which they are viewed or printed. It is intended for developers of software that creates PDF files (PDF writers), software that reads existing PDF files and (usually) interprets their contents for display (PDF readers), software that reads and displays PDF content and interacts with the computer users to possibly modify and save the PDF file (interactive PDF processors) and PDF products that read and/or write PDF files for a variety of other purposes (PDF processors). (PDF writers and PDF readers are more specialised classifications of interactive PDF processors and all are PDF processors).
This document does not specify the following:
- specific processes for converting paper or electronic documents to the PDF file format;
- specific technical design, user interface implementation, or operational details of rendering;
- specific physical methods of storing these documents such as media and storage conditions;
- methods for validating the conformance of PDF files or PDF processors;
- required computer hardware and/or operating system.
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