PDFformatet

The PDF format, which stands for Portable Document Format, is a file format developed by Adobe in the early 1990s to present documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. This means that a PDF document will look the same no matter who opens it, on what device, or with what software.

The primary goal of PDF was to ensure reliable document viewing and exchange. It preserves fonts, images, graphics, and layout of any source document, regardless of the application used to create it. This makes it ideal for sharing documents that need to maintain their original appearance, such as résumés, legal documents, and forms.

PDF files can contain a wide range of content, including text, graphics, and interactive elements like hyperlinks, buttons, and form fields. Security features are also a common aspect of PDF, allowing for password protection, digital signatures, and restrictions on printing or copying content.

Initially proprietary, Adobe released the PDF specification as an open standard in 2008. This led to broader adoption and the development of numerous PDF readers and creation tools by various software vendors. Today, PDF is one of the most widely used file formats for document sharing and archiving on the internet.