Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections

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PDF, Version 1.7, ExtensionLevel 5

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Format Description Properties Explanation of format description terms

Identification and description Explanation of format description terms

Full name PDF (Portable Document Format), version 1.7, ExtensionLevel 5
Description

PDF (Portable Document Format), developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated, is described by Adobe as a general document representation language. PDF represents formatted, page-oriented documents. These documents may be structured or simple. They may contain text, images, graphics, and other multimedia content, such as video and audio. There is support for annotations, metadata, hypertext links, and bookmarks.

The original version 1.7 of the PDF format was released November 2006 and associated with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 8.0. Version 1.7 was published as ISO 32000-1 in July 2008.

ISO 32000-1:2008 introduced an extension mechanism, to allow vendors or other organizations to establish extensions to the standard without causing difficulties to software. Adobe is using this mechanism to add support for new functionality in its PDF tools. Adobe has indicated that its extensions will cumulate; extensions with higher numbers will incorporate the specifications for extensions with earlier numbers. Thus software that can interpret ExtensionLevel 5 files fully is expected to interpret content compliant with ExtensionLevel 3 too.

ExtensionLevel 3 was published in June 2008, in association with the release of Acrobat 9.0. ExtensionLevel 3 supported substantial additional functionality in the specification. ExtensionLevel 5 was published by Adobe in June 2009, in conjunction with the release of Acrobat 9.1. ExtensionLevel 5 provided very little additional functionality over ExtensionLevel 3; the most significant change is support for a newer version of Adobe's XML Forms Architecture (XFA 3.0)

Production phase In general, a final-state format for delivery to end users.
Relationship to other formats
    Subtype of PDF, Portable Document Format
    Extension of PDF_1_7_ext03, PDF, Version 1.7, ExtensionLevel 3

Local use Explanation of format description terms

LC experience or existing holdings See PDF.
LC preference See PDF.

Sustainability factors Explanation of format description terms

Disclosure Published extension by Adobe Systems Incorporated to international standard, ISO 32000-1:2008.
    Documentation

Adobe Supplement to the ISO 32000, BaseVersion:1.7, ExtensionLevel:5, available at https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/adobe_supplement_iso32000_1.pdf.

ExtensionLevel 5 incorporates extensions in Adobe Supplement to the ISO 32000, BaseVersion:1.7, ExtensionLevel:3, available at https://web.archive.org/web/20200621050243/https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/adobe_supplement_iso32000.pdf Link via Internet Archive.

ISO 32000-1:2008. Document management -- Portable document format -- Part 1: PDF 1.7. An equivalent document is PDF Reference, Sixth Edition, Version 1.7. November 2006. At https://web.archive.org/web/20201204221151/https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/pdf_reference_1-7.pdf Link via Internet Archive.

Adoption The compilers of this resource have not been able to determine whether this extension to PDF 1.7 (ISO 32000-1) has been used extensively in practice. The single feature added was support for XFA Version 3.x. XFA was deprecated in PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2: 2017). Comments welcome.
    Licensing and patents See PDF_1_7.
Transparency See PDF.
Self-documentation Version 1.4 and later of PDF can include XMP metadata packages. XMP is Adobe's framework for including arbitrary blocks of metadata, using a representation in RDF.
External dependencies See PDF_1_7.
Technical protection considerations See PDF.

Quality and functionality factors Explanation of format description terms

Text
Normal rendering See PDF.
Integrity of document structure See PDF.
Integrity of layout and display See PDF.
Support for mathematics, formulae, etc. See PDF.
Functionality beyond normal rendering See PDF_1_7_ext03

File type signifiers and format identifiers Explanation of format description terms

Tag Value Note
Filename extension pdf
See PDF.
Indicator for profile, level, version, etc. See note. 

Extensions to the PDF format used in a document are identified in the catalog dictionary, located by means of the Root entry in the trailer of the PDF file. The use of ExtensionLevel 5 to PDF 1.7 would be indicated by a catalog dictionary containing the following segment:

%PDF 1.7
<</Type /Catalog
/Extensions
<</ADBE
<</BaseVersion /1.7/ExtensionLevel 5>>
>>
>>

Pronom PUID See related format.  PRONOM does not have separate PUIDs for Adobe's published extensions to PDF 1.7.
Wikidata Title ID See related format.  Wikidata does not have separate Title IDs for Adobe's published extensions to PDF 1.7.

Notes Explanation of format description terms

General For information about the mechanism for extending the PDF standard, see 7.12.2 Developer Extensions Dictionary and Annex E in ISO 32000-1:2018.
History

PDF, Version 1.7, ExtensionLevel 5 provides for very little additional functionality over ExtensionLevel 3. The most significant extension is support for a new version of Adobe's XML Forms Architecture (XFA 3.0).

PDF 1.7 was released in November 2006 in association with version 8 of Acrobat and Adobe Reader. In January 2007, Adobe announced the intention to pursue standardization through TC 171/SC 2 of ISO. This process led to publication as ISO 32000-1 in July 2008. ExtensionLevel 3 was published with the release of Acrobat 9.0 in June 2008. With the release of Acrobat 9.1 in June 2009, Adobe published the specification of ExtensionLevel 5.


Format specifications Explanation of format description terms


Useful references

URLs


Last Updated: 07/29/2022