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An unbalanced scale with an identical painting on each side.

Google’s Jpegli promises smaller JPEG images (and so, smaller PDF files) with no change to reader software! Check it out for yourself!

Screenshot of a hex editor examining the world's smallest PDF.

What’s the smallest possible fully compliant and validatable PDF file? We set out to answer the question.

Figurative PDF file thinking about other file formats.

Triggered by our own experience in preparing the cheat sheet collection, this article explores the capabilities of PDF collections and strengthens the case for all PDF implementations to do a better job at supporting collection creation and viewing.

Examples of correct and incorrect renderings.

In 2021, not a single tested implementation passed this test. 3 years later about three-quarters of viewers we checked now render the test case correctly.

Screenshot of a legal document showing "iv" as the printed page number while the viewer shows a page label of "5".

Does your PDF viewer fully support page labels? Does your PDF authoring software? Support for page labels can be a key factor in choosing a PDF viewer, especially for users dealing with complex documents.

Image of a page including broken images.

To avoid confusing and frustrating users, applications can and should be robustly prepared for significant changes to PDF – with end user messaging in mind – well before files start to appear in the marketplace.

Screen-shot visualizing two approaches to an unsupported image filter; one page shows a warning, the other shows nothing.

These synthetic files are intended for user experience and human-computer interaction (HCI) specialists to assess the behavior of their current generation of PDF applications to ensure that appropriate user-centric messages are displayed before future PDF changes are made and available to users.

PDF fragment identifiers highlighting the target type.

Peter Wyatt’s latest article focuses on improving the user experience for website visitors needing to access specific content in longer PDF documents.

ISO standards word cloud

All ISO publications are written according to a set of rules known as the ISO Directives. In this article, the PDF Association’s CTO, Peter Wyatt explains how to understand the formal terminology in ISO’s standards for PDF technology.

PDF version numbers (1.0 - 2.0)

How meaningful is PDF’s version number? SafeDocs’ research reveals that 20% of extant files contain features that exceed the stated version!

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