Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format used to present documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems.

PDF File Format

What are Form XObjects?

Form XObjects (not be confused with forms which are buttons, checkboxes, buttons, etc) are an advanced feature of the PDF file format. They can...
Mark Stephens
44 sec read

Why is white a special color in PDF files?

White is a special color in the PDF file format. This is because of the way different colours work in the PDF file format....
Mark Stephens
1 min read

Make Your Own PDF – Part 2b: Create your…

This is part of a series on How to make your own PDF files. In the previous article of this series, we learn to...
Daniel
2 min read

Make your own PDF file – Part 2: Structure…

This is part of a series on How to make your own PDF files. Before we can start hacking together our own simple PDF...
Daniel
2 min read

Why can’t I just open and edit a PDF…

People sometimes try to edit a PDF file by opening the file in a text editor. This very rarely works for 3 reasons. Firstly,...
Mark Stephens
1 min read

What does an OCR PDF file contain?

What is an OCR PDF file? Some PDF files are generated from scanning in pages as images, and these have their own unique quirks....
Mark Stephens
1 min read