PDF documents (Portable Document Format)

Filename extension: .pdf
Internet media type: application/pdf, application/x-pdf, application/x-bzpdf, application/x-gzpdf
Type code: ”PDF”
Uniform Type Identifier: com.adobe.pdf
Magic number: %PDF
Developed by: Adobe Systems
Initial release: 1993
Latest release: 1.7
Extended to: PDF/A, PDF/E, PDF/UA, PDF/VT, PDF/X
Standard: ISO 32000
Open format: Yes

Portable Document Format, commonly abbreviated to PDF, is a page description language created by Adobe Systems, whose specificity is to preserve the formatting of a file – fonts of writing, images, graphic objects, etc. – as it was defined by its author, and this regardless of the software, the operating system and the computer used to print or display system.

Portable Document Format is a computer file format created as an evolution of PostScript format.

The advantage of PDF is that it preserves the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to read it.

PDF can also be interactive. It is possible (using software such as Adobe Acrobat Pro , LibreOffice or Scribus) to incorporate text fields, notes, corrections, drop down menus, options, calculations, etc. This is called PDF form.

That is why this format is used in a wide and varied set of software, the export of public office suites, handling by specialized programs of artistic industry, through the generation of electronic invoices via Internet.

More technically, the PDF files can be created with custom options, both levels of compression for images and texts, the print quality of the file and lock (print prohibition, modification …).

PDF has become an exchange format (screen printing consultation, etc.) and archiving of electronic documents, it has become an “international standard”.