Page description file formats

Formats that describe finished pages exactly: where every character, line and picture goes. A page looks the same on any screen or printer, which makes these the usual formats for sharing and printing final documents.

Formats

.DJVU

DjVu

Scanned pages split into a text mask and colour layers, each compressed its own way.

.OXPS

OpenXPS document

The Ecma standard form of XPS, saved by Windows 8 and later.

.PCL

Printer Command Language

HP’s printer language: escape sequences a driver sends to a laser printer.

.PDF

Portable Document Format

Fixed pages that look the same everywhere, built from numbered objects.

.PLT

HP-GL plot file

Pen plotter commands in plain text: two-letter instructions that draw lines.

.PS

PostScript

Adobe’s page description language: a program that draws each page.

.XPS

XML Paper Specification

Microsoft’s fixed pages: XML page descriptions, fonts and images in a ZIP package.