printsi

Printsi is a hypothetical open standard and software library intended to standardize the interface between content creation tools and printing devices. It describes a minimal, stream-oriented API for content, layout, typography, color management, and printer capabilities, with the goal of decoupling document design from the specifics of individual printers and drivers.

The term originated in speculative discussions about digital publishing and print workflows. It is not an official standard and there is no central governing body. As a result, implementations and proposals have remained informal and varied across communities and vendors.

Core concepts in Printsi include a page-oriented model, a sequence of printable items, and a set of commands for placing text, vector graphics, and raster images. It emphasizes extensibility to accommodate different page sizes, color spaces (RGB and CMYK), fonts, and accessibility metadata, while supporting streaming to devices with limited memory.

In practice, Printsi has limited real-world adoption and is mostly discussed in theoretical or educational contexts. Some experimental libraries and demonstrations exist to illustrate how a standardized interface could improve cross-device reproducibility and simplify prototyping of print pipelines. Critics point to fragmentation and the difficulty of reconciling existing printer ecosystems with a universal standard.

Related topics include established page description languages such as PostScript, PDF, and PCL, as well as contemporary print workflow standards and job-ticket specifications.