Abbreviation for Portable Document Format
A file format based on PostScript (page description language) developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated.
It enables output of the same visual image regardless of differences in software, hardware, operating system, etc.
Fonts can be embedded in PDF, and the same fonts as those in the original document can be reproduced regardless of the reader's environment. (If fonts are not embedded, alternative fonts are used and therefore, the layout, etc., may change.) OCR can be applied to documents imported as images, and the results can be embedded in a PDF as a hidden test.
In 2008, Adobe Systems Incorporated delegated the management of the PDF development to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the current PDF 2.0 specification is standardized as ISO 32000-2.
PDF has the following derivative formats.
・PDF/A Standardized as ISO 19005 series for long-term archiving.
・PDF/E Standardized as ISO 24517 series for the exchange of technical information.
・PDF/X Standardized as ISO 15930 series for printing.
・PDF/UA Standardized as ISO 14289 series for universal access.
