Adobe plans to make PDF an ISO format

Adobe has announced its intention to release version 1.7 of its PDF spec as an open standard

Adobe has announced plans to have its PDF file format published as an open standard by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

The company, which developed the PDF format and sells Acrobat software for creating PDF files, said it will release the current 1.7 version of the PDF specification to the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) for publication. AIIM is an authority on enterprise content management and a member of the ISO committee focused on information management compliance issues.

PDF is already widely used in organisations as the standard way to exchange and store documents. Adobe has previously worked with ISO to develop and publish as a standard PDF variants such as PDF for Archive (PDF/A) and PDF for Exchange (PDF/X).

Opening up the full PDF specification as a published standard could enhance its status as the preferred format for document exchange and ensure that PDF files can be accessed by other applications in future. Other formats, such as the OpenOffice ODF and Microsoft’s OpenXML, have similarly benefited from being published as standards.

Adobe senior vice-president and chief software architect Kevin Lynch said the move is a logical step in the evolution of PDF from de facto to formal standard.

“By releasing the full PDF specification for ISO standardisation, we are reinforcing our commitment to openness. As governments and organisations increasingly request open formats, maintenance of the PDF specification by an external organisation will help to drive innovation and expand the rich PDF ecosystem,” he said.