The full form of PDF is Portable Document Format.

The Portable Document Format (commonly known as “PDF”) is a file format developed in the early 1990s as a way to share computer documents, including text formatting and inline images.

PDF technology was designed to allow for presentation of documents independent of the application software, operating system and hardware used to create them. PDF files encapsulate a complete description of a fixed-layout document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it. PDF files may also include a wide variety of other content, from hyperlinks to metadata to logical structure to JavaScript and attached files, that allow the format to meet a wide variety of functional and workflow requirements for electronic documents.

From 1993 until 2007 the PDF specification (known at that time as the “PDF Reference”) was published in eight editions (1.0 to 1.7) by Adobe Systems. To promote widespread adoption from the outset, Adobe made these documents freely available and their use royalty-free.

To download any of the pre-ISO editions of the PDF Reference, visit Adobe’s PDF Reference Archive.

In 2008 ISO published Adobe’s PDF Reference 1.7 (with minor, non-technical changes) as ISO 32000-1. Under a special one-time agreement between Adobe and ISO, an “Adobe version” of ISO 32000-1 was made available as a free download from Adobe’s website. Purchased directly from ISO, ISO 32000-1 costs 198 CHF (Swiss francs).

PDF 2.0

In July, 2017, ISO published ISO 32000-2, the long-awaited PDF 2.0. In addition to numerous clarifications and corrections, this document enhances and extends the PDF format in a wide variety of new areas. PDF 2.0 is available from ISO for 198 CHF (Swiss francs)

 PDFs run your world. You know you use PDFs to make your most important work happen. That’s why we invented the Portable Document Format (PDF), to present and exchange documents reliably — independent of software, hardware, or operating system.

In 1991, Adobe co-founder Dr. John Warnock launched the paper-to-digital revolution with an idea he called, The Camelot Project. The goal was to enable anyone to capture documents from any application, send electronic versions of these documents anywhere, and view and print them on any machine. By 1992, Camelot had developed into PDF. Today, it is the format trusted by businesses around the world.

The PDF is now an open standard, maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). PDF documents can contain links and buttons, form fields, audio, video, and business logic. They can be signed electronically, and you can easily view PDF files on Windows or Mac OS using the free Acrobat Reader DC software.

You can be confident your PDF file meets ISO 32000 standards for electronic document exchange, including special-purpose standards such as PDF/A for archiving, PDF/E for engineering, and PDF/X for printing. You can also create PDFs to meet a range of accessibility standards that make content more usable by people with disabilities.