ISO 23504 (PDF/R)

ISO 23504-1:2020 Document management applications — Raster image transport and storage — Part 1: Use of ISO 32000 (PDF/R-1) defines a strict subset of ISO 32000 suitable for storage, transport and exchange of multi-page raster-image documents, including (but not limited to) scanned documents. As an ISO-standardized subset of PDF, PDF/R takes advantage of widespread support for viewing, printing and processing PDF files. As a narrowly restricted subset of PDF, PDF/R is much simpler to generate and interpret than conventional PDF files, allowing it to replace the TIFF and JPEG image file formats for capture and delivery of scanner output.

PDF/R is optimized for creation by very low-powered embedded devices such as scanners. The subset provides the portability of PDF while offering the core functionality of TIFF. Bitonal, grayscale and RGB images are supported. Compression options include JPEG, lossless CCITT Group 4 Fax and uncompressed.

PDF/R is the official ISO version of the PDF Association's PDF/Raster 1.0 specification that was jointly developed with TWAIN. Note that PDF/R includes some wording updates, corrections and clarifications from PDF/Raster 1.0 as a result of detailed reviews by ISO subject matter experts.