PDF (file format)
Adobe PDF icon
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|
| Filename extension | .pdf |
|---|---|
| Internet media type |
|
| Type code | 'PDF ' (including a single space) |
| Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | com.adobe.pdf |
| Magic number | %PDF |
| Developed by | ISO |
| Initial release | 15 June 1993 |
| Latest release |
2.0
|
| Extended to | PDF/A, PDF/E, PDF/UA, PDF/VT, PDF/X |
| Standard | ISO 32000-2 |
| Open format? | Yes |
| Website | www |
| Filename extension | .fdf |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | application/vnd.fdf |
| Type code | 'FDF' |
| Developed by | Adobe Systems |
| Initial release | 1996 (PDF 1.2) |
| Extended from | |
| Extended to | XFDF |
| Standard | ISO 32000-2:2017 |
| Open format? | Yes |
| Filename extension | .xfdf |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | application/vnd.adobe.xfdf |
| Type code | 'XFDF' |
| Developed by | Adobe Systems |
| Initial release | July 2003 (referenced in PDF 1.5) |
| Latest release |
3.0
(August 2009) |
| Extended from | PDF, FDF, XML |
| Standard | ISO 19444-1) |
| Website | XFDF 3.0 specification |
The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format developed in the 1990s to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Based on the PostScript language, each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, vector graphics, raster images and other information needed to display it. PDF was standardized as an open format, ISO 32000, in 2008, and does not require any royalties for its implementation.
Today, PDF files may contain a variety of content besides flat text and graphics including logical structuring elements, interactive elements such as annotations and form-fields, layers, rich media (including video content) and three dimensional objects using U3D or PRC, and various other data formats. The PDF specification also provides for encryption and digital signatures, file attachments and metadata to enable workflows requiring these features.
Adobe Systems made the PDF specification available free of charge in 1993. In the early years PDF was popular mainly in desktop publishing workflows, and competed with a variety of formats such as DjVu, Envoy, Common Ground Digital Paper, Farallon Replica and even Adobe's own PostScript format.
PDF was a proprietary format controlled by Adobe until it was released as an open standard on July 1, 2008, and published by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 32000-1:2008, at which time control of the specification passed to an ISO Committee of volunteer industry experts. In 2008, Adobe published a Public Patent License to ISO 32000-1 granting royalty-free rights for all patents owned by Adobe that are necessary to make, use, sell, and distribute PDF compliant implementations.
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