PDF Standards

PDF

PDF documents up to PDF 1.6 are based on Adobe's proprietary public PDF Standards.

Based on Adobe Systems PDF Version 1.7, the ISO Standard 32000-1 was published in 2008.

ISO Standard 32000-2 defines PDF 2.0. PDF 2.0 is not backwards compatible. The list of changes contains more than 50 entries, which contain new features, improvements - but also the cleanup of legacy issues. The new part of the standard mainly concerns the chapters: rendering, transparency, digital signatures, metadata and accessibility.


ISO 32000-1:2008

Document management — Portable document format — Part 1: PDF 1.7

ISO 32000-1:2008 specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents independent of the environment in which they were created or the environment in which they are viewed or printed. It is intended for the developer of software that creates PDF files (conforming writers), software that reads existing PDF files and interprets their contents for display and interaction (conforming readers) and PDF products that read and/or write PDF files for a variety of other purposes (conforming products).

ISO 32000-1:2008 does not specify the following:

  • specific processes for converting paper or electronic documents to the PDF format;

  • specific technical design, user interface or implementation or operational details of rendering;

  • specific physical methods of storing these documents such as media and storage conditions;

  • methods for validating the conformance of PDF files or readers;

  • required computer hardware and/or operating system.

Source: www.iso.org/standard/51502.html


ISO 32000-2:2020

Document management — Portable document format — Part 2: PDF 2.0

This document specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents independent of the environment in which they were created or the environment in which they are viewed or printed. It is intended for developers of software that creates PDF files (PDF writers), software that reads existing PDF files and (usually) interprets their contents for display (PDF readers), software that reads and displays PDF content and interacts with the computer users to possibly modify and save the PDF file (interactive PDF processors) and PDF products that read and/or write PDF files for a variety of other purposes (PDF processors). (PDF writers and PDF readers are more specialised classifications of interactive PDF processors and all are PDF processors).

This document does not specify the following:

  • specific processes for converting paper or electronic documents to the PDF file format;

  • specific technical design, user interface implementation, or operational details of rendering;

  • specific physical methods of storing these documents such as media and storage conditions;

  • methods for validating the conformance of PDF files or PDF processors;

  • required computer hardware and/or operating system.

Source: www.iso.org/standard/75839.html

PDF/A

PDF/A was designed to address the weaknesses of PDF and create a format that can be archived for the long term.

The ISO 19005 standard defines PDF/A. In the case of PDF/A-2 and newer, the standard is based on another standard: ISO 32000 for PDF.

The format follows the approach of a self-contained document. This means that the visual appearance of a document is preserved over time, regardless of the products and systems used to create, store and reproduce it.

PDF/A documents must have fonts and other resources embedded. This may result in an increase in file size. However, with industry standard products such as the Quali-Pdf/A Converter, this can be largely counteracted.

The latest version of PDF/A, PDF/A-4 incorporates also PDF/E (Engineering), which no longer exists as its own standards for newer versions.


ISO 19005-1:2005

Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1)

ISO 19005-1:2005 specifies how to use the Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.4 for long-term preservation of electronic documents. It is applicable to documents containing combinations of character, raster and vector data.

Source: www.iso.org/standard/38920.html


ISO 19005-2:2011

Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/A-2)

ISO 19005-2:2011 specifies the use of the Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7, as formalized in ISO 32000-1, for preserving the static visual representation of page-based electronic documents over time.

ISO 19005-2:2011 is not applicable to

  • specific processes for converting paper or electronic documents to the PDF/A format,

  • specific technical design, user interface, implementation, or operational details of rendering,

  • specific physical methods of storing these documents, such as media and storage conditions,

  • required computer hardware and/or operating systems.

Source: www.iso.org/standard/50655.html


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)

ISO 19005-3:2012 specifies the use of the Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7, as formalized in ISO 32000-1, for preserving the static visual representation of page-based electronic documents over time in addition to allowing any type of other content to be included as an embedded file or attachment.

Source: www.iso.org/standard/57229.html

ZUGFeRD

ZUGFeRD is a cross-industry data format for electronic invoice data exchange that was developed by the Forum elektronische Rechnung Deutschland (FeRD) - with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The ZUGFeRD data format is based on Directive 2014/55/EU of April 16, 2014 on electronic invoicing for public contracts and on the EN16931 standard published on June 28, 2017. In addition, the Cross-Industry-Invoice (CII) of UN/CEFACT and the ISO standard 19005-3:2012 (PDF/A-3) are taken into account as of ZUGFeRD 2.0.

The areas of application for this hybrid invoice format are diverse. ZUGFeRD can be used in B2B, B2G and B2C business transactions.

Source: www.ferd-net.de