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PDF Reference

The PDF specification was first published when Adobe® Acrobat® was introduced in 1993. Since then, updated versions of the PDF Reference have been made available from Adobe via the Web. A significant number of developers and systems integrators offer customized enhancements and extensions to Adobe's core family of products. Adobe publishes the PDF specification to foster the creation of an ecosystem around the PDF format. The PDF Reference provides a description of the Portable Document Format and is intended for application developers wishing to develop applications that create PDF files directly, as well as read or modify PDF document content.

Adobe® Acrobat® 8.1 implementation of the PDF specification

On January 29, 2007, Adobe announced its intent to release the full Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7 specification to AIIM, the Enterprise Content Management Association, for the purpose of publication by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). New PDF language features implemented in Acrobat 8.1 are extensions to the PDF Reference, Sixth Edition and are described in the new document Acrobat Implementation of the PDF Specification.

PDF Reference and Related Documentation (PDF, 15.3M) (Updated on Oct. 23, 2007 with revised errata)

In addition to the PDF Reference, Sixth Edition, this PDF package includes the Redaction Addendum, the Errata to the Sixth Edition, and a new document Acrobat Implementation of the PDF Specification.

PDF Reference, Sixth Edition, version 1.7

The document, ISO 32000, submitted to ISO for balloting is a reformatted version of the Adobe PDF 1.7 Reference. The ISO 32000 document delivered to ISO preserves the technical integrity of the Adobe PDF 1.7 Reference with content that is vendor neutral, more precise and conforming to ISO conventions. The submitted document represents a complete expression of the PDF standard.

ISO 32000 — Summary of Changes (PDF, 112k )

This document is a change summary that discusses the changes that were made to the PDF Reference 1.7 when creating the ISO 32000 document submitted to ISO for balloting.

PDF Reference, Sixth Edition, version 1.7 (PDF, 31.0M)

This book provides a description of the PDF file format and is intended primarily for developers of PDF producer applications that create PDF files directly. It also contains enough information to allow developers to write PDF consumer applications that read existing PDF files and interpret or modify their contents.

Errata to Sixth Edition (PDF, 164k)

Redaction Addendum (PDF, 106k)


Provides additional information about redaction annotation types.

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PDF Reference, Fifth Edition, version 1.6

PDF Reference, Fifth Edition, version 1.6 (PDF, 8.7M)

Errata to Fifth Edition (PDF, 51k)

Blend modes addendum (PDF, 89k)


Provides additional information about blend modes for PDF transparency.

PDF Reference, Fourth Edition, version 1.5

PDF Reference, Fourth Edition, version 1.5 (PDF, 8.8M)


This file has been compressed using Acrobat 6.0 compression for faster download. It requires Acrobat or Adobe Reader 6.0 software to open.

PDF Reference, Fourth Edition, version 1.5 (PDF, 13.5M)


The same document is available in uncompressed form, readable by Acrobat 5.0 and later versions.

Errata to Fourth Edition (TXT, 6K)

PDF Reference, Third Edition, version 1.4

PDF Reference, Third Edition, version 1.4 (PDF, 8.9M)


Published by Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-75839-3

Compressed file for quicker download (ZIP: 4.5M)

Errata to Third Edition (TXT: 13k)

Changes from Version 1.3 to 1.406/01 (PDF, 849k)


PDF Reference, Second Edition, version 1.3

PDF Reference, Second Edition, version 1.3 (PDF, 4.9M)


Published by Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-61588-6

Errata to Second Edition (TXT: 13k)

Highlight file format (PDF, 252k)

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