A document format designed to preserve page layout, text, graphics, fonts, and other content consistently across devices and software.
General information
- Format name
- Portable Document Format
- Extension
.pdf- MIME type
application/pdf- Category
- document
- Data type
- Binary And Text
- Developer
- Adobe
- Introduced
- 1993
File signatures
| Offset | Hexadecimal | ASCII | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 25 50 44 46 2D | %PDF- | PDF files begin with a header containing the PDF version. |
Common uses
Reports
Forms
Books and manuals
Invoices
Print-ready documents
Document distribution
Related formats
Technical resources
| Resource | Publisher | Link |
|---|---|---|
| RFC 8118 — The application/pdf Media Type | RFC Editor | Open resource ↗ |
| Media Types Registry | IANA | Open resource ↗ |
Record information
- Verified
- October 3, 2026
- Last updated
- October 3, 2026