PDF TWG

Background

The members of the TWG come from a variety of backgrounds but are primarily developers working for vendors creating products that create or consume PDF files. Some members are also actively involved in the ISO PDF committees which set the international standards that define PDF technology. Together, we have a wide and deep experience of PDF, both theoretical and practical. We are therefore ideally placed to discuss any ambiguities in the standard, to jointly develop best practices and new features, and to share advice, e.g. to ensure that PDF files are appropriately prepared for their target use cases and audiences.

Objective

The PDF Technical Working Group (TWG) is dedicated to supporting developers with publications and other resources to assist in creating software to comply with ISO 32000, the International Standard for the Portable Document Format (PDF) and other PDF technical specifications and ISO standards not covered by other PDF Association TWGs.

Status

As of Q4 2025 key subjects currently under discussion include, but are not limited to:

• Discuss and reach consensus on industry resolutions for resolving reported errata on PDF specifications and standards
• Prepare submissions to ISO TC 171 SC 2 WG 8
• Research and develop proposals for future PDF (outcome of Symposium on Advancing PDF) including Brotli compression, streaming PDF, improved annotations, and alternate methods to encoding content streams.
• Author and maintain RFCs and Application Notes related to PDF (such as RFC 8118 and the 3 PDF 2.0 Application Notes published by the PDF Association.)
• Research and develop a new proposal to define an XPath-like syntax for PDF – nominally called “PDF-Path”

How to participate in the Working Group

It’s possible to participate in the Working Group without attending meetings!

• The Working Group’s errata activities are centered on the public GitHub repository https://github.com/pdf-association/pdf-issues/ During meetings, PDF TWG members discuss and resolve the issues raised. Non-members may add new errata or comment on existing issues, allowing developers worldwide to have input on issues against PDF specifications and ISO standards.
• Additional private GitHub repositories contain resources and discussions on other PDF TWG projects. Guidelines for each repository are in the respective GitHub repo’s README.
• Working group members may attend the working group’s online meetings – currently on the first and third Thursday of the month, 2200–2300 CET / 1600–1700 ET / 1300–1400 PT, or review GitHub activity, meeting notes and recordings of previous calls.

The PDF TWG is open to all PDF Association Individual, Division, Full, Partner, and Institutional members.

Join this working group to:

• Access all of the working group’s private GitHub repositories
• Access the working group’s private Google Drive area with working documents
• Champion new feature proposals in PDF
• Participate in resolving errata
• Participate in the publication approval process
• Access meeting recordings and notes
• Access and provide comments on related ISO documents

PDF Association members can join the Technical Working Group by visiting the Member Area and clicking “Manage Working Groups”.

Relevant resources

• ISO 32000-2 (available at no cost thanks to our generous sponsors!)
• pdf-issues GitHub repository, a publically-available resource to allow non-members to submit questions about PDF’s specification. Any issues submitted are reviewed and
• resolved by the PDF TWG, with agreed resolutions published at https://pdf-issues.pdfa.org. When appropriate, errata may also be forwarded to appropriate ISO groups.
• Resolved errata for PDF specifications and standards
• Other core PDF specifications and related errata
• ISO Status: status of all PDF-related ISO work