PDF TWG

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).

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.

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
• Prepare submissions to ISO TC 171 SC 2 WG 8
• Research and develop proposals to improve the streaming of PDF (outcome of Symposium on Advancing PDF)
• Research and develop proposals to improve general compression (outcome of Symposium on Advancing PDF)
• Maintain and update RFCs related to PDF (such as RFC 8118)
• Research and develop a new proposal to define an XPath-like syntax for PDF - nominally called "PDF-Path"

Join us!

The PDF Technical Working Group (TWG) is a collaborative organization of PDF software developers who use the TWG's resources to share their knowledge and experience of PDF technology in a vendor-neutral space.

Members of the PDF Association are entitled to participate in online and in-person PDF TWG meetings, subscribe to the PDF TWG listserv, access the PDF Association's Jira, and much more! Review the benefits and options for membership, or get in touch to learn more!

How to get ISO 32000 (PDF 2.0)

ISO 32000-2:2020, the current edition of the PDF specification, is not freely downloadable: a purchase is required. In addition, there are now a number of ISO Technical Specifications (TS) publications extending PDF 2.0 with new features.

The first ISO-standardized specification for PDF, ISO 32000-1:2008 (PDF 1.7), is available for free by special arrangement between ISO and Adobe Systems. Note that Adobe’s proprietary Extension Levels to ISO 32000-1:2008 are not part of the ISO standard.

Reporting issues

The PDF Association maintains a public GitHub repo allowing developers worldwide to report issues against many of the PDF ISO standards.

Appreciation

The PDF Association is grateful to its Partner member Dual Lab for hosting the Atlassian instances used for past PDF 2.0 interop events and the SafeDocs fundamental research program.