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PDF standards

This page provides a mapping between ISO document numbers, parts and publication years, and the PDF nomenclature commonly used in industry. The PDF Association maintains a list of published and work-in-progress ISO work items, while the official ISO sites for ISO TC 171 and ISO TC 130 provide additional information.

Note that some ISO publications also have associated errata, known as technical corrigenda or amendments, which need to be read in conjunction with the related ISO standard. Withdrawn publications are shown for completeness, as these may be explicitly referenced in other sources. In some cases, a withdrawn publication may have been replaced by an updated document, as indicated by the year of publication.

Withdrawn ISO standards remain available for purchase using the following manual process as documented on the ISO Store FAQs under "How can I purchase a withdrawn standard?":

Withdrawn standards are available for sale in PDF or paper version, for the price of CHF 58.00 (+ Shipping & Handling for the paper copy). Withdrawn standards can only be purchased by contacting the ISO Customer Care Team, Opening Hours: Monday to Friday, from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00 (UTC +1).

Or by contacting your national ISO member directly.

The PDF Association also provides Application Notes, Technical Notes, and industry-based errata corrections for some of these ISO publications. Such additional information published by the PDF Association may not be officially endorsed by the ISO committees responsible for these ISO standards.

PDF = ISO 32000

The core PDF standard. A list of earlier Adobe PDF specifications and their errata can be found here. A list of industry resolutions to PDF 2.0 errata can be found here.

PDF version Document
PDF 1.7 ISO 32000-1:2008 Document Management — Portable Document Format — Part 1: PDF 1.7
PDF 2.0 ISO 32000-2:2017 Document Management — Portable Document Format — Part 2: PDF 2.0 (withdrawn)
PDF 2.0 ISO 32000-2:2020 Document Management — Portable Document Format — Part 2: PDF 2.0
Amendment 1 is currently in progress at ISO TC 171 SC 2 WG 8 to include resolutions to errata impacting PDF/A-4, PDF/X-6, and ISO/TS 32005.

ISO/TS (Technical Specification) extensions and clarifications for PDF 2.0

Technical Specification (TS) Document Type
ISO/TS 32001:2022 Document management — Portable Document Format — Extensions to Hash Algorithm Support in ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) Extension
ISO/TS 32002:2022 Document management — Portable Document Format — Extensions to Digital Signatures in ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) Extension
ISO/TS 24064:2023 Document management — Portable document format — RichMedia annotations conforming to the ISO 10303-242 (STEP AP 242) specification Extension
ISO/TS 32003:2023 Document management — Portable Document Format — Adding support of AES-GCM in PDF 2.0 Extension
ISO/TS 32004:2024 Document management — Portable Document Format — Integrity protection in encrypted documents in PDF 2.0 Extension
ISO/TS 32005:2023 Document management — Portable Document Format — PDF 1.7 and 2.0 structure namespace inclusion in ISO 32000-2 Clarification
ISO/TS 32007:2024 Document management — Portable Document Format — RichMedia annotations conforming to glTF assets Extension

PDF/A = ISO 19005

PDF for long-term preservation and archival purposes, including industry's errata corrections for PDF/A-4.

Standard Document PDF version
PDF/A-1 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 1.4
ISO 19005-1:2005/COR 1:2007 Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1) — Technical Corrigendum 1
ISO 19005-1:2005/COR 2:2011 Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1) — Technical Corrigendum 2
PDF/A-2 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 1.7
PDF/A-3 ISO 19005-3:2012 Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 3: Use of ISO 32000-1 with support for embedded files (PDF/A-3) PDF 1.7
PDF/A-4 ISO 19005-4:2020 Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 4: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF/A-4)
ISO 19005-4:202x Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 4: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF/A-4) - dated revision currently in progress
PDF 2.0

PDF/E = ISO 24517

PDF for engineering. In PDF 2.0, PDF/A-4e has been specified to support engineering-centric 3D PDF workflows.

Standard Document PDF version
PDF/E-1 ISO 24517-1:2008 Document management — Engineering document format using PDF — Part 1: Use of PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1) PDF 1.6

PDF/R = ISO 23504

PDF/R defines a simple subset of PDF for multi-page raster-image documents including, but not limited to, scanned documents. PDF/R is the ISO standard of the PDF/Raster 1.0 specification developed within the PDF Association.

Standard Document PDF version
PDF/R-1 ISO 23504-1:2020 Document management applications — Raster image transport and storage — Part 1: Use of ISO 32000 (PDF/R-1) PDF 1.7, PDF 2.0

PDF/X = ISO 15930

PDF/X defines strict subsets of PDF for the use of digital data intended for accurate print reproduction.

Standard Document PDF version
- ISO 15929:2002 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange — Guidelines and principles for the development of PDF/X standards (withdrawn) -
PDF/X-1 ISO 15930-1:2001 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange — Use of PDF — Part 1: Complete exchange using CMYK data (PDF/X-1 and PDF/X-1a) PDF 1.3
PDF/X-1a ISO 15930-4:2003 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 4: Complete exchange of CMYK and spot colour printing data using PDF 1.4 (PDF/X-1a) PDF 1.4
PDF/X-2 ISO 15930-5:2003 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 5: Partial exchange of printing data using PDF 1.4 (PDF/X-2) (withdrawn) PDF 1.4
PDF/X-3 ISO 15930-3:2002 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange — Use of PDF — Part 3: Complete exchange suitable for colour-managed workflows (PDF/X-3) PDF 1.4
ISO 15930-6:2003 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 6: Complete exchange of printing data suitable for colour-managed workflows using PDF 1.4 (PDF/X-3)
PDF/X-4 ISO 15930-7:2008 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 7: Complete exchange of printing data (PDF/X-4) and partial exchange of printing data with external profile reference (PDF/X-4p) using PDF 1.6 (withdrawn) PDF 1.6
ISO 15930-7:2010 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 7: Complete exchange of printing data (PDF/X-4) and partial exchange of printing data with external profile reference (PDF/X-4p) using PDF 1.6
PDF/X-5 ISO 15930-8:2008 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 8: Partial exchange of printing data using PDF 1.6 (PDF/X-5) (withdrawn) PDF 1.6
ISO 15930-8:2010 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 8: Partial exchange of printing data using PDF 1.6 (PDF/X-5)
ISO 15930-8:2010/COR 1:2011 Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 8: Partial exchange of printing data using PDF 1.6 (PDF/X-5) — Technical Corrigendum 1
PDF/X-6 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
ISO 15930-9:202x 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 dated revision in progress
PDF 2.0
AppNotes Application Notes for PDF/X Standards

PDF/UA = ISO 14289

PDF/UA supports universal accessibility and assistive technology.

Standard Document PDF version
PDF/UA-1 ISO 14289-1:2012 Document management applications — Electronic document file format enhancement for accessibility — Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/UA-1) (withdrawn) PDF 1.7
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-2 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 2.0

PDF/VCR = ISO 16613

PDF/VCR enables variable data printing applications using PDF template-based variable content substitution.

Standard Document PDF version
PDF/VCR-1 ISO 16613-1:2017 Graphic technology — Variable content replacement — Part 1: Using PDF/X for variable content replacement (PDF/VCR-1) PDF 1.7,
PDF 2.0

PDF/VT = ISO 16612

PDF/VT are a family of standards supporting high-volume variable data and transactional printing.

Standard Document PDF version
PDF/VT-1,
PDF/VT-2
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/X-4, PDF/X-5
PDF/VT-3 ISO 16612-3:2020 Graphic technology — Variable data exchange — Part 3: Using PDF/X-6 (PDF/VT-3) PDF/X-6
PPML/VDX ISO 16612-1:2005 Graphic technology — Variable printing data exchange — Part 1: Using PPML 2.1 and PDF 1.4 (PPML/VDX-2005) PDF 1.4

ECMAScript for PDF 2.0 = ISO 21757

ECMAScript (also known as JavaScript) provides PDF with scripting capabilities enabling smart forms, interactive 3D content, and much more. Industry-based errata for ECMAscript in PDF 2.0 can be found here.

Standard Document PDF version
ECMAScript
for PDF 2.0
ISO 21757-1:2020 Document Management — ECMAScript For PDF — Part 1: Use Of ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) PDF 2.0

XFDF = ISO 19444

XFDF is an XML format for representing forms data and annotations with PDF. It is the XML equivalent of FDF which is defined within ISO 32000.

Standard Document PDF version
XFDF 3.0 ISO 19444-1:2016 Document management — XML Forms Data Format — Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-2 (XFDF 3.0) (withdrawn) PDF 2.0
ISO 19444-1:2019 Document management — XML Forms Data Format — Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-2 (XFDF 3.0)

Print workflow and metadata

Print workflow and metadata standards are used to communicate the intended appearance, processing steps, or job tickets for printed products via PDF features.

Standard Document PDF version
- ISO 19593-1:2018 Graphic technology — Use of PDF to associate processing steps and content data — Part 1: Processing steps for packaging and labels PDF 1.7, PDF 2.0
- ISO 21812-1:2019 Graphic technology — Print product metadata for PDF files — Part 1: Architecture and core requirements for metadata PDF 1.7, PDF 2.0

Long-term signature profiles for PAdES

ISO 14533-3 specifies the elements, among those defined in PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES), that enable verification of a digital signature over a long period of time. It does not give new technical specifications about the digital signature itself, nor new restrictions of usage of the technical specifications about the digital signatures which already exist.

Standard Document PDF version
PAdES ISO 14533-3:2017 Processes, data elements and documents in commerce, industry and administration — Long term signature profiles — Part 3: Long term signature profiles for PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES) -

XMP metadata

XMP is a widely used XML-based metadata format that is also the preferred metadata format in all ISO PDF standards.

Standard Document PDF version
XMP ISO 16684-1:2012 Graphic technology — Extensible metadata platform (XMP) specification — Part 1: Data model, serialization and core properties (withdrawn) Any
ISO 16684-1:2019 Graphic technology — Extensible metadata platform (XMP) — Part 1: Data model, serialization and core properties
- ISO 16684-2:2014 Graphic technology — Extensible metadata platform (XMP) — Part 2: Description of XMP schemas using RELAX NG Any
- ISO 16684-3:2021 Graphic technology - Extensible metadata platform (XMP) Part 3: JSON-LD serialization of XMP PDF 2.0
n/a ISO 19445:2016 Graphic technology — Metadata for graphic arts workflow — XMP metadata for image and document proofing (withdrawn) PDF 1.7
- ISO 19445:2022 Graphic technology — Metadata for graphic arts workflow — XMP metadata for image and document proofing PDF 1.7
- ISO 12234-3:2016 Electronic still picture imaging — Removable memory — Part 3: XMP for digital photography -
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