PDF Association logo

Discover pdfa.org

Key resources

Get involved

How do you find the right PDF technology vendor?
Use the Solution Agent to ask the entire PDF communuity!
The PDF Association celebrates its members’ public statements
of support
for ISO-standardized PDF technology.

Member Area

Current ISO work related to PDF

ISO Technical Committee (TC) 171 “Document management applications” Sub-committee (SC) 2 “Document file formats, EDMS systems and authenticity of information” Working Groups (WGs) are responsible for many PDF-related ISO publications. The ISO TC 171 official website also provides information about the current program of work.

ISO TC 130 “Graphic Technology” WG 2 “Prepress data exchange” and related Task Forces (TFs) are responsible for PDF/X, PDF/VT, and other PDF-related graphic arts and commercial print applications. ISO TC 130 JWG 7 is the joint working group responsible for ICC and colour management. The ISO TC 130 official website provides additional information about standardization activities in the graphic arts industry.

For an opportunity to gain early access, review or actively participate in any of these work items via the PDF Association's Category A liaison with ISO, please join the PDF Association in order to access the relevant Technical Working Groups (TWGs). New proposals are always welcome!

Last updated: 15 March 2024

Contents

ISO TC 171 “Document management applications”

SC 2 “Document file formats, EDMS systems and authenticity of information”

WG 5: “Joint TC 171/SC 2 - TC 42 - TC 46/SC 11 - TC 130 WG: Document management applications - Application issues - PDF/A”

WG 7: “PDF/Engineering”

WG 8 “PDF specification”

WG 9 “PDF universal accessibility” (PDF/UA)

WG 12 “Metadata”

ISO TC 130 “Graphic technology”

WG 2 “Prepress data exchange”

TF 2: “Postpress” (PDF/X)

TF 3: “Variable data exchange” (PDF/VT)

TF 4: “XMP”

TF 5: “PDF Common Metadata”

JWG 7: “Joint TC 130 - ICC WG: colour management”

TC 171 “Document management applications”

SC 2 “Document file formats, EDMS systems and authenticity of information”

Spring 2024: May 2024 (Virtual and In-Person - Tokyo, Japan)

WG 5: “Joint TC 171/SC 2 - TC 42 - TC 46/SC 11 - TC 130 WG: Document management applications - Application issues - PDF/A”

WG 5 is responsible for the ISO 19005 family of PDF/A standards for long-term preservation including archival applications.

ISO Number Official title Common name Current status Next key date PDF Association logo
ISO 19005-4:2020 Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 4: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF/A-4) PDF/A-4 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2025-12 PDF/A TWG
ISO/DIS 19005-4 Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 4: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF/A-4) PDF/A-4 Dated revision in progress Awaiting DIS draft and ballot PDF/A TWG
ISO 19005-1:2005 Document management - Electronic document file format for long-term preservation - Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1) PDF/A-1 International Standard Published -Confirmed for additional 5 years Systematic Review 2025-12 PDF/A TWG
ISO 19005-2:2011 Document management - Electronic document file format for long-term preservation - Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/A-2) PDF/A-2 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2026-10 PDF/A TWG
ISO 19005-3:2012 Document management - Electronic document file format for long-term preservation - Part 3: Use of ISO 32000-2 with support for embedded files (PDF/A-3) PDF/A-3 International Standard Published - Confirmed for additional 5 years Systematic Review 2028-03 PDF/A TWG
ISO 18565:2015 Document management - AFP/Archive AFP/A International Standard Published -Confirmed for additional 5 years Systematic Review 2025-12 PDF/A TWG
ISO 22550:2021 Document management - AFP interchange for PDF AFP International Standard Published Systematic Review 2026-12 PDF/A TWG

WG 7: “PDF/Engineering”

WG 7 is responsible for the ISO 24517 family of PDF/E standards as well as the other engineering features, 3D formats, and integrations with PDF, and ECMAscript (JavaScript) used with PDF.

ISO Number Official title Common name Current status Next key date PDF Association logo
ISO 21757-1:2020 Document management – ECMAScript for PDF – Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) ECMAscript for PDF 2.0 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2025-12 PDF TWG
ISO/TS 24064:2023 Document management – Portable Document Format – 3D data streams conforming to the ISO 10303:242 (STEP AP242) specification STEP extension to PDF 2.0 International Technical Specification Published Systematic Review 2026-01 3D PDF TWG
ISO 24517-1:2008 Document management - Engineering document format using PDF - Part 1: Use of PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1) PDF/E-1 International Standard Published - Confirmed for additional 5 years Systematic Review 2027-07 PDF TWG
ISO 14739-1:2014 Document management - 3D use of Product Representation Compact (PRC) format - Part 1: PRC 10001 PRC International Standard Published 3D PDF TWG
ISO/DIS 14739-1 Document management - 3D use of Product Representation Compact (PRC) format - Part 1: PRC 10001 PRC Dated revision in progress Approved for publication to begin publication process 3D PDF TWG
ISO/DTS 32007 Document management — Portable Document Format — RichMedia annotations conforming to glTF assets glTF extension to PDF 2.0 Work in progress Approved for publication to begin publication process 3D PDF TWG

WG 8 “PDF specification”

WG 8 is responsible for the ISO 320002 family of standards which defines the core PDF specification as well as other generally applicable PDF activities. WG8 also has various technical topics under preliminary discussion including the process for adopting extensions into future parts of ISO 32000, future 2D image compression formats for PDF, encryption and digital signature extensions for PDF and variable-width stroking extension for PDF.

ISO Number Official title Common name Current status Next key date PDF Association logo
ISO 19444-1:2019 Document management - XML Forms Data Format - Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-2 (XFDF 3.0) XFDF International Standard Published Systematic Review 2024-08 PDF TWG
ISO 23504-1:2020 Document management applications - Raster image transport and storage - Part 1: Use of ISO 32000 (PDF/R-1) PDF/R-1 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2025-07 PDF TWG
ISO 32000-1:2008 Document management - Portable Document Format - Part 1: PDF 1.7 PDF 1.7 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2023-09 PDF TWG
ISO 32000-2:2020 Document management – Portable Document Format – Part 2: PDF 2.0 PDF 2.0 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2025-12 PDF TWG
ISO 32000-2:2020 Amd 1 Document management – Portable Document Format – Part 2: PDF 2.0 - Amendment 1 Amd 1 Amendment Project discontinued PDF TWG
ISO/TS 32001:2022 Document management - Portable Document Format - Encryption and Hash algorithm support in ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) International Technical Specification Published Systematic Review 2025-07 PDF DigSig TWG
ISO/TS 32002:2022 Document management - Portable Document Format - Extensions to Digital Signatures in ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) International Technical Specification Published Systematic Review 2025-10 PDF DigSig TWG
ISO/TS 32003:2023 Document management - Portable Document Format - Adding support of AES-GCM in PDF 2.0 AES-GCM extension to PDF 2.0 International  Technical Specification Published Systematic Review 2026-05 PDF DigSig TWG
ISO/CD TS 32004 Document management - Portable Document Format - Integrity Protection in encrypted documents in PDF 2.0 Integrity Protection extension to PDF 2.0 Draft Technical Specification DTS Ballot closing 2024-03-29 PDF DigSig TWG

WG 9 “PDF universal accessibility” (PDF/UA)

WG9 is responsible for the ISO 14289 family of PDF/UA standards, as well as expertise in Tagged PDF and accessibility.

ISO Number Official title Common name Current status Next key date PDF Association logo
ISO 14289-1:2014 Document management applications - Electronic document file format enhancement for accessibility - Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/UA-1) PDF/UA-1 International Standard Published -Confirmed for additional 5 years Systematic Review 2025-03 PDF/UA TWG
ISO 14289-2:2024 Document management applications – Electronic document file format enhancement for accessibility – Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF/UA-2) PDF/UA-2 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2029-01 PDF/UA TWG
ISO/TS 32005:2023 Document management - Portable Document Format - PDF 1.7 and 2.0 structure namespace inclusion in ISO 32000-2 Namespace clarification for PDF 2.0 ISO Technical Specification Published Systematic Review  2026-07 PDF/UA TWG

WG 12 “Metadata”

WG12 was recently created to extend the ISO 16684 family of XMP metadata standards.

ISO Number Official title Common name Current status Next key date PDF Association logo
ISO 16684-1:2019 Graphic technology - Extensible metadata platform (XMP) - Part 1: Data model, serialization and core properties XMP International Standard Published Systematic Review 2023-04 TBD
ISO 16684-2:2014 Graphic technology - Extensible metadata platform (XMP) - Part 2: Description of XMP schemas using RELAX NG XMP-RELAX-NG International Standard Published -Confirmed for additional 5 years Systematic Review 2025-03 TBD
ISO 16684-3:2021 Graphic technology – Extensible metadata platform (XMP) specification – Part 3: JSON-LD serialization of XMP XMP-JSON-LD International Standard Published Systematic Review  2027-08 TBD
ISO 16684-4:2024 Graphic technology - Extensible metadata platform (XMP) specification - Part 4: Use of XMP for Semantic Units XMP-SU International Standard Published Systematic Review 2029-01-15 TBD

ISO TC 130 “Graphic technology”

Winter 2023: Oct. 30th to Nov. 3rd 2023 (Tokyo, Japan)

WG 2 “Prepress data exchange”

Due to changes in ISO, all work is now conducted directly in WG2. The various Task Forces (TFs) no longer exist formally beneath WG2 but are recorded here for historic reasons.

TF 2: “Prepress” (PDF/X)

TF 2 was responsible for the ISO 15930 family of PDF/X standards as well as other aspects related to PDF in graphic arts and commercial printing applications. TF 2 was researching methods to support nCLR ICC profiles with PDF.

ISO Number Official title Common name Current status Next key date PDF Association logo
ISO 15930-9:2020 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 9: Complete exchange of printing data (PDF/X-6) and partial exchange of printing data with external profile reference (PDF/X-6p and PDF/X-6n) using PDF 2.0 PDF/X-6 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2025-11 TBD
- PDF/X Application Notes PDF/X App Notes Application Notes Published - TBD

TF 3: “Variable data exchange” (PDF/VT)

TF 3 was responsible for the ISO 16612 family of standards related to variable data printing.

ISO Number Official title Common name Current status Next key date PDF Association logo
ISO 16612-2:2010 Graphic technology — Variable data exchange — Part 2: Using PDF/X-4 and PDF/X-5 (PDF/VT-1 and PDF/VT-2) PDF/VT-1, PDF/VT-2 International Standard Published Systematic Review PDF/VT TWG
ISO 16612-3:2020 Graphic technology — Variable data exchange — Part 3: Using PDF/X-6 (PDF/VT-3) PDF/VT-3 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2025-11 PDF/VT TWG
ISO 16613-1:2017 Graphic technology — Variable content replacement — Part 1: Using PDF/X for variable content replacement (PDF/VCR-1) PDF/VCR-1 International Standard Published Systematic Review PDF/VT TWG

TF 5: “PDF Common Metadata”

TF 5 was responsible for ISO 21812-1:2019 Graphic technology — Print product metadata for PDF files — Part 1: Architecture and core requirements for metadata.

JWG 7: “Joint TC 130 - ICC WG: colour management”

JWG 7 is the joint working group responsible for ICC.1 (ISO 15076) and ICCmax (ISO 20677) specifications, as well as many other colour-related technologies including ISO 18619:2015 Black point compensation.

ISO Number Official title Common name Current status Next key date PDF Association logo
ISO 15076-1:2010 Image technology colour management — Architecture, profile format and data structure — Part 1: Based on ICC.1:2010 ICC.1 v4.3 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2026-04 TBD
ISO 15076-2:2023 Image technology colour management — Architecture, profile format and data structure — Part 1: Based on ICC.1:2010 ICC.1 v4.4 New part in progress TBD
ISO 20677:2019 Image technology colour management — Extensions to architecture, profile format and data structure iccMAX v5.0 International Standard Published Systematic Review 2024-01 TBD
ISO 20677:202x Image technology colour management — Extensions to architecture, profile format and data structure iccMAX v5.0 Dated revision in progress TBD
ISO/TS 21830:2018 Black point compensation for n-colour ICC profiles BPC International Standard Published - Confirmed for additional 5 years Systematic Review  2024-10 TBD
ISO/TS 23564:2020 Evaluating colour transform accuracy in ICC profiles International Standard Published Systematic Review 2026-04 TBD
WordPress Cookie Notice by Real Cookie Banner