What is the File Format - What does file format mean??

This term refers to the technical standard that has been used to encode information for storage in a computer file File formats can be designed for one specific type of data or for different types of data The format of a digital file can be identified by internal metadata such as a file header or magic number or external metadata stored in the file system rather than in individual files although the most popular method for both operating systems and human users is to use the file extension which is usually made up of the same set of characters as the name or abbreviation of the file format for example the PDF file format has the extension pdf the JPEG file format has the extension jpeg and so on

Glossary

PDF - What does PDF mean?

Definition of PDF:

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a digital file format that contains a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document (including the text, font(s), graphics, formatting details, and any other information required to display the document) and is used to display and transfer documents independent of the software, hardware, or operating system being used.

Developed by Adobe in the early 1990s as a way to share documents (particularly desktop publishing files), PDF was officially released as an open standard and published as an international standard (ISO 32000-1:2008) on July 1^st 2008.

This format combines three technologies; a subset of PostScript (a page description programming language) to generate the layout and graphics, a font embedding/replacement system to allow fonts to transfer with the document, and a structured storage system to bundle the aforementioned elements (and any associated content) into a single file (with data compression if appropriate). PDFs can contain vector graphics and raster graphics, text and fonts, as well as interactive elements (such as annotations, form fields, videos, flash animations, and links) and accessibility features (such as text equivalents, captions, and audio descriptions).

PDFs can be handled in a number of ways by a variety of different software, although most will only be able to perform one (or some) of these functions, which include viewing/reading, editing, creating, converting, and annotating the file. For example, there are a huge number of free PDF viewers/readers, which can read PDF files but cannot edit PDF files (although some may offer some basic modifying functions such as annotations).

At Label Planet, we supply PDF templates (in portrait and landscape formats, plus bleed formats where possible) for all of our label sizes for customers to use to design and print their own labels. These templates must be edited using a graphics package (e.g. InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop etc).

A screenshot of a PDF file for a label template open in a PDF reader.

Here is the Harvard-style citation to use if you would like to reference this definition of the term PDF:
Label Planet (2020) What does PDF mean? | PDF Definition. Available at: https://www.labelplanet.co.uk/glossary/pdf/ (Accessed: January 1, 2024).

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