PDF Full Form - Portable Document Format

What is the full form of PDF?

The full form of PDF is Portable Document Format.

It is a file format that is used to present documents including text files, images, etc. PDF doesn't depend on the application software, hardware or operating system.

In other words, it is a way to present and exchange files securely without worrying about hardware, software or operating system. It collects an electronic image of the document which can be displayed, printed and also can be forwarded to others.

PDF History

The PDF format was designed by Adobe Systems in the early 1990s. In the current times, PDF is an open standard under ISO (International Organization for Standardization).

Here is a brief history of the PDF:

• 1993 - PDF was released by the Adobe Systems
• 2008 - PDF was released as an open standard
• 2020 - The second edition of PDF 2.0 was released

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PDF Characteristics

The characteristics associated with PDF are as follows:

1 Multi-platform support

PDF files can be used on any platform whether it is Windows, Mac OS or Android.

2 Accessibility

PDFs are independent of software, hardware and OS, so they can be accessed from anywhere on any device.

3 Compression

PDFs are very compatible with compression. One can easily compress the size of a PDF file using an online tool.

4 Security

PDFs are very secure in nature and there are options too that lets a user decide to put passwords on the given PDF file.

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PDF Advantages

There are many advantages of PDFs. Here are a few:

• It permits integration of text, hyperlinks, interactive buttons, fonts, images etc. and also preserves formatting across networks
• Can easily be compressed
• Follows legal specifications
• Permits document-based security to prevent hacking
• Multi-platform friendly
• Potability
• Preserves entire visual parameters of the document

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PDF Disadvantages

There are some disadvantages of PDF too that are:

• Can not be easily altered
• Some operating systems such as Linux and Unix has limited access
• Text is perceived as a picture which makes it difficult to work with text in PDF format