portable document format (redirected from .pdf)

portable document format [¦pörd·ə·bəl ‚däk·yə·mənt ′fȯr‚mat]

(computer science)

A computer file format for publishing and distributing electronic documents (text, image, or multimedia) with the same layout, formatting, and font attributes as in the original. The files can be opened and viewed on any computer or operating system; however, special software is required. Abbreviated PDF.

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(file format)

Portable Document Format - (PDF) The native file format for Adobe Systems' Acrobat. PDF is the file format for representing documents in a manner that is independent of the original application software, hardware, and operating system used to create those documents. A PDF file can describe documents containing any combination of text, graphics, and images in a device-independent and resolution independent format. These documents can be one page or thousands of pages, very simple or extremely complex with a rich use of fonts, graphics, colour, and images. http://adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html. ["The Portable Document Format Reference Manual", Adobe systems, Inc. Addison-Wesley Publ. Co., ISBN: 0-201-62628-4].