ISO Technical Committee (TC) 171 “Document management applications” Sub-committee (SC) 2 “Document file formats, EDMS systems and authenticity of information” Working Groups (WGs) are responsible for many PDF-related ISO publications.
ISO TC 130 “Graphic Technology” WG 2 “Prepress data exchange” and related Task Forces (TFs) are responsible for PDF/X, PDF/VT, and other PDF-related graphic arts and commercial print applications. ISO TC 130 JWG 7 is the joint working group responsible for ICC and colour management.
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Last updated: 4 January 2021
ISO TC 171 “Document management applications”
SC 2 “Document file formats, EDMS systems and authenticity of information”
WG 9 “PDF universal accessibility” (PDF/UA)
ISO TC 130 “Graphic technology”
TF 3: “Variable data exchange” (PDF/VT)
JWG 7: “Joint TC 130 - ICC WG: colour management”
Spring 2021: 4-7 May 2021 (Paris, France or Virtual if COVID-19 still an issue)
WG 5 is responsible for the ISO 19005 family of PDF/A standards for long-term preservation including archival applications.
| ISO Number | Official title | Common name | Current status | Next key date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 19005-4 | Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 4: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF/A-4) | PDF/A-4 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2025-12 | PDF/A TWG |
| ISO 19005-1 | Document management - Electronic document file format for long-term preservation - Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1) | PDF/A-1 | Confirmed for additional 5 years | Systematic Review 2025-12 | PDF/A TWG |
| ISO 19005-2 | Document management - Electronic document file format for long-term preservation - Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/A-2) | PDF/A-2 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2021-10 | PDF/A TWG |
| ISO 19005-3 | Document management - Electronic document file format for long-term preservation - Part 3: Use of ISO 32000-2 with support for embedded files (PDF/A-3) | PDF/A-3 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2023-03 | PDF/A TWG |
| ISO 18565 | Document management - AFP/Archive | AFP/A | Confirmed for additional 5 years | Systematic Review 2025-12 | PDF/A TWG |
| ISO 22550 | Document management - AFP interchange for PDF | AFP | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2024-07 | PDF/A TWG |
WG 7 is responsible for the ISO 24517 family of PDF/E standards as well as the other engineering features, 3D formats, and integrations with PDF, and ECMAscript (JavaScript) used with PDF.
| ISO Number | Official title | Common name | Current status | Next key date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 21757-1 | Document management – ECMAScript for PDF – Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) | ECMAscript for PDF | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2025-12
| PDF TWG |
| ISO/PDTS 24064 | Document management – Portable Document Format – 3D data streams conforming to the ISO 10303:242 (STEP AP242) specification | STEP extension to PDF 2.0 | Early draft Technical Specification | 2021-05-05 ISO meeting | PDF TWG |
| ISO 24517-1 | Document management - Engineering document format using PDF - Part 1: Use of PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1) | PDF/E-1 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2022-04 | PDF TWG |
| ISO NP/CD 14739-1 | Document management – 3D use of Product Representation Compact (PRC) format – Part 1: PRC 10001 | PRC dated revision | Project to restart | 2021-05-05 ISO meeting | PDF TWG |
| ISO 14739-1 | Document management - 3D use of Product Representation Compact (PRC) format - Part 1: PRC 10001 | PRC | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2021-04 | PDF TWG |
| ISO/PDTS 24654 | Document management – Portable Document Format – Non-Rectangular Links | Non-rectangular links for PDF 2.0 | Early draft Technical Specification | Working Group Review DTS 8-week ballot opens 2021-02-10 | PDF TWG |
WG 8 is responsible for the ISO 320002 family of standards which defines the core PDF specification as well as other generally applicable PDF activities. WG8 also has various technical topics under preliminary discussion including the process for adopting extensions into future parts of ISO 32000, future 2D image compression formats for PDF, encryption and digital signature extensions for PDF and variable-width stroking extension for PDF.
| ISO Number | Official title | Common name | Current status | Next key date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 19444-1 | Document management - XML Forms Data Format - Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-2 (XFDF 3.0) | XFDF | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2024-08 | PDF TWG |
| ISO 23504-1 | Document management applications - Raster image transport and storage - Part 1: Use of ISO 32000 (PDF/R-1) | PDF/R-1 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2025-07 | PDF TWG |
| ISO 32000-1 | Document management - Portable Document Format - Part 1: PDF 1.7 | PDF 1.7 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2023-09 | PDF TWG |
| ISO 32000-2 | Document management – Portable Document Format – Part 2: PDF 2.0 | PDF 2.0 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2025-12 | PDF TWG |
| ISO/ DTS 32001 | Document management - Portable Document Format - Encryption and Hash algorithm support in ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) | Draft Technical Specification | 2021-03-12 Ballot to close | PDF DigSig TWG | |
| ISO / DTS 32002 | Document management - Portable Document Format - Extensions to Digital Signatures in ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) | Draft Technical Specification | 2021-03-12 Ballot to close | PDF DigSig TWG | |
| ISO NP/PDTS 32003 | Document management - Portable Document Format - Adding support of AES-GCM in PDF 2.0 | New Project/ Preliminary Draft Technical Specification | 2021-03-05 Ballot closes | PDF DigSig TWG | |
| ISO NP/PDTS 32004 | Document management - Portable Document Format - Integrity Protection in encrypted document in PDF 2.0 | New Project/ Preliminary Draft Technical Specification | 2021-03-05 Ballot closes | PDF DigSig TWG |
WG9 is responsible for the ISO 14289 family of PDF/UA standards, as well as expertise in Tagged PDF and accessibility.
| ISO Number | Official title | Common name | Current status | Next key date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 14289-1 | Document management applications - Electronic document file format enhancement for accessibility - Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/UA-1) | PDF/UA-1 | Confirmed for additional 5 years | Systematic Review 2025-03 | PDF/UA TWG |
| ISO/NP 14289-2 | Document management applications – Electronic document file format enhancement for accessibility – Part 2: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF/UA-2) | PDF/UA-2 | New Project/ Committee Draft (CD) | 2021-03-05 Ballot closes 2021-05-04/05 ISO meeting | PDF/UA TWG |
| ISO NP/PDTS 32005 | Document management - Portable Document Format - PDF 1.7 and 2.0 namespace inclusion in ISO 32000-2 | New Project/ Preliminary Draft Technical Specification | 2021-03-05 Ballot closes 2021-05-04/05 ISO meeting | PDF/UA TWG |
WG12 was recently created to extend the ISO 16684 family of XMP metadata standards.
| ISO Number | Official title | Common name | Current status | Next key date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 16684-1 | Graphic technology - Extensible metadata platform (XMP) - Part 1: Data model, serialization and core properties | XMP | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2023-04 | TBD |
| ISO 16684-2 | Graphic technology - Extensible metadata platform (XMP) - Part 2: Description of XMP schemas using RELAX NG | XMP-RELAX-NG | Confirmed for additional 5 years | Systematic Review 2025-03 | TBD |
| ISO 16684-3 | Graphic technology – Extensible metadata platform (XMP) specification – Part 3: JSON-LD serialization of XMP | XMP-JSON-LD | Approved for publication | Send to ISO for publication after working group review 2021-02 | TBD |
| ISO/WD 16684-4 | Graphic technology - Extensible metadata platform (XMP) specification - Part 4: Use of XMP for Semantic Units | XMP-4 | Working Draft | 2021-04-01 WD ballot closes 2021-05-06 ISO meeting | TBD |
Fall 2020: November 30 - December 4, 2020 (Sydney, Australia)
TF 2 is responsible for the ISO 15930 family of PDF/X standards as well as other aspects related to PDF in graphic arts and commercial printing applications. TF 2 is also currently researching methods to support nCLR ICC profiles with PDF.
| ISO Number | Official title | Common name | Current status | Next key date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 15930-9 | Graphic technology — Prepress digital data exchange using PDF — Part 9: Complete exchange of printing data (PDF/X-6) and partial exchange of printing data with external profile reference (PDF/X-6p and PDF/X-6n) using PDF 2.0 | PDF/X-6 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2025-11 | TBD |
TF 3 is responsible for the ISO 16612 family of standards related to variable data printing.
| ISO Number | Official title | Common name | Current status | Next key date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 16612-3 | Graphic technology — Variable data exchange — Part 3: Using PDF/X-6 (PDF/VT-3) | PDF/VT-3 | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2025-11 | PDF/VT TWG |
All current XMP work items have been moved to ISO TC 171 SC 2 WG 12 “Metadata”.
There are no currently open work items in TF 4.
TF 5 was responsible for ISO 21812-1:2019 Graphic technology — Print product metadata for PDF files — Part 1: Architecture and core requirements for metadata. There are no currently open work items in TF 5 and it may get officially disbanded soon.
JWG 7 is the joint working group responsible for ICC (ISO 15076-1:2010) and ICCmax (ISO 20677:2019) specifications, as well as many other colour-related technologies including ISO 18619:2015 Black point compensation.
| ISO Number | Official title | Common name | Current status | Next key date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO/CD TS 23534-1 | Interoperability conformance specification: Architecture for process colour plus spot colour overprint simulation - Part 1: Colormetric processing | Draft Technical Specification | DTS Ballot Closed 2019-04-30 | TBD | |
| ISO/TS 21830 | Black point compensation for n-colour ICC profiles | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2021-07 | TBD | |
| ISO/TS 23564 | Evaluating colour transform accuracy in ICC profiles | International Standard Published | Systematic Review 2023-01 | TBD |
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