Sustainability of Digital Formats
 Planning for Library of Congress Collections

Introduction | Sustainability Factors | Content Categories | Format Descriptions | Contact
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PDF, Version 1.5

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Format Description Properties
• ID: fdd000123
• Short name: PDF_1_5
• Content categories: text, still image>
• Format category: file format, wrapper
• Last significant update: 2005-01-22
• Draft status: Partial

Identification and description Explanation of format description terms

Full namePDF (Portable Document Format), version 1.5
DescriptionPDF (Portable Document Format), developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated, is described by Adobe as a general document representation language. PDF represents formatted, page-oriented documents. These documents may be structured or simple. They may contain text, images, graphics, and other multimedia content, such as video and audio. There is support for annotations, metadata, hypertext links, and bookmarks.

Version 1.5 of the PDF format was associated with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 6.0.
  Production phase  In general, a final-state format for delivery to end users.
Relationship to other formats 
  Subtype ofPDF
  Has earlier versionPDF_1_4

Local use Explanation of format description terms

LC experience or existing holdingsSee PDF
LC preferenceSee PDF

Sustainability factors Explanation of format description terms

DisclosureSee PDF
  Documentation See PDF
AdoptionTBD
  Licensing and patent claimsSee PDF
TransparencySee PDF
Self-documentationVersion 1.4 and later of PDF can include XMP metadata packages. XMP is Adobe's framework for including arbitrary blocks of metadata, using a representation in RDF.
External dependenciesNone.
Technical protection considerationsSee PDF

Quality and functionality factorsExplanation of format description terms

Normal rendering for textSee PDF.
Integrity of structureSee PDF.
Integrity of layoutSee PDF.
Integrity of rendering of equations, etc.See PDF.
Beyond normal rendering for textSee PDF

File type signifiers Explanation of format description terms

Tag typeValueNote
Filename ExtensionpdfSee PDF.

Notes Explanation of format description terms

General 
HistoryPDF 1.5 was released in August 2003 and is associated with version 6 of Acrobat and Adobe Reader.

Format specifications Explanation of format description terms

URLs
Adobe PDF Specifications (http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/pdf/specifications.jsp)
http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/pdf/PDFReference15_v6.pdf. PDF Reference, Fourth Edition, Version 1.5. Adobe Systems Incorporated.

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Useful references

URLs
JHOVE PDF-hul Module (http://hul.harvard.edu/jhove/pdf-hul.html)


Last Updated: Wednesday, 07-Mar-2007 12:40:22 EST