Portable Document Format (PDF)
Overview
New PDF features
- PDF improves the viewing and manipulation of 3D graphics.
- PDF simplifies the navigation of e-mail archives and photo collections.
Additional resources
Compelling Content
Happy Feet
Penguin fun-facts, a sing-along or movies that tap--see how Warner Brothers uses the PDF format to deliver toe-tapping fun and content rich, printable resources to Happy Feet fans. (Click on "downloads," then select "printables.")
An open and reliable standard
Portable Document Format (PDF) was introduced in 1990 as a way to reliably view, print, and share information with other people. Regardless of the computer's operating system, PDF was reliable and consistent, displaying and printing the same every time. As an open specification, it allowed everybody to "peek under the hood" to see how PDF was built, leading to a broader understanding and confidence in the young document format.
With the Internet boom came a huge increase in the distribution of information as well as an increase in the number of computers, web browsers, and operating systems. During this period of unprecedented growth, PDF emerged as the best way to reliably distribute documents across the web. With Adobe's stewardship, PDF has been adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as the standard for archiving electronic documents. One by one, more than a half billion people who use their computers and mobile phones to view, print, and collaborate on documents and forms have come to trust PDF.
PDF for business
New PDF features
- PDF improves the viewing and manipulation of 3D graphics.
- PDF simplifies the navigation of e-mail archives and photo collections.
Open, cross-platform, and more secure
PDF is the gold standard for publishing, viewing, and printing sensitive documents and forms. Companies across the globe have chosen PDF to reliably deliver information to their customers and partners. As both a ubiquitous and truly cross-platform technology, PDF has unprecedented reach, easily viewed by more than a half billion people on a variety of operating systems, applications, and devices.
PDF recipients can be enabled to confidently act on information, digitally
signing, viewing, and verifying document authenticity. PDF digital signatures
can be used to accelerate the closing of new contracts and transactions while
reducing business operations costs. Users can be enabled to fill forms, mark up
drafts, and share comments. Trusted by the United States Internal Revenue Service and the Food and Drug Administration, PDF is the choice for electronic
document collaboration and exchange. An
ISO standard, PDF is the internationally relied upon format for the distribution
and archiving of sensitive and confidential information.
PDF for IT
New PDF features
- PDF improves the viewing and manipulation of 3D graphics.
- PDF simplifies the navigation of e-mail archives and photo collections.
Increasing control across the extended enterprise
PDF enables IT departments to increase control of sensitive information, contracts, and electronic documentation across the extended enterprise. IT managers can be empowered to determine which users will be enabled to view, edit, comment on, or digitally sign documents, assuring control of confidential information. Documents can be protected with passwords to control the distribution of confidential information, inside and outside the firewall. Digital certificates and keys can be centrally managed, leveraging existing identity management systems to simplify integration, optimize security, and reduce total costs.
PDF enables the deployment of a consistent, cross-platform experience, viewable on multiple operating systems and devices and in a wide variety of languages.
PDF for developers
New PDF features
- PDF improves the viewing and manipulation of 3D graphics.
- PDF enables structured information through the "TaggedPDF" feature.
Additional resources
- PDF Developer Center
- PDF Reference
- PDF Library SDK
- PDF Library Developer Center
- XPAAJ: The XML/PDF API for Java
- PDF and XML
- XFA: XML Forms Architecture
- Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP)
- The Mars Project
- Digital signatures (PDF, 159k)
- PDF goes mobile
- Adobe Reader
- About PDF
- Licensed open source
- ISO: The International Organization for Standardization
Integrate PDF into your applications
An open specification since 1993, PDF enables developers to integrate the creation, manipulation, and viewing of documents and forms into their applications and workflows to improve and accelerate critical business processes. The PDF Library SDK lets developers implement the latest PDF features as described by the open specification that is published as part of the PDF Reference.
PDF 1.7, the latest release of the PDF Specification, supports RSS and E4X,
the ECMAScript for XML standard. PDF/A, the PDF archiving subset, is the
ISO standard for the long-term preservation of electronic documents. Take
a closer look at the numerous resources available to developers to take advantage
of the PDF standard.
Next steps
