Editing PDF (section)

=== Printing ===

[[Raster image processor]]s (RIPs) are used to convert PDF files into a [[raster graphics|raster format]] suitable for imaging onto paper and other media in printers, digital production presses and [[prepress]] in a process known as [[rasterization]]. RIPs capable of processing PDF directly include the Adobe PDF Print Engine<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.adobe.com/products/pdfprintengine/overview.html|title=Adobe PDF Print Engine|publisher=Adobe Systems Inc.|access-date=August 20, 2014|archive-date=August 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130822034446/http://www.adobe.com/products/pdfprintengine/overview.html|url-status=live}}</ref> from Adobe Systems and Jaws<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalgraphics.com/products/jaws_rip/|title=Jaws® 3.0 PDF and PostScript RIP SDK|work=globalgraphics.com|access-date=November 26, 2010|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305090728/http://globalgraphics.com/products/jaws_rip|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the Harlequin RIP from [[Global Graphics]].

In 1993, the Jaws raster image processor from Global Graphics became the first shipping prepress RIP that interpreted PDF natively without conversion to another format. The company released an upgrade to its Harlequin RIP with the same capability in 1997.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.globalgraphics.com/products/harlequin-multi-rip |title=Harlequin MultiRIP|access-date=March 2, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209215413/http://www.globalgraphics.com/products/harlequin-multi-rip/|archive-date=February 9, 2014 }}</ref>

[[Agfa-Gevaert]] introduced and shipped Apogee, the first prepress workflow system based on PDF, in 1997.

Many commercial offset printers have accepted the submission of press-ready PDF files as a print source, specifically the PDF/X-1a subset and variations of the same.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205151505/http://www.prepressx.com/|archive-date=February 5, 2009|url=http://www.prepressx.com/|url-status=usurped|title=Press-Ready PDF Files|quote=For anyone interested in having their graphic project commercially printed directly from digital files or PDFs.|access-date=January 12, 2023}}</ref> The submission of press-ready PDF files is a replacement for the problematic need for receiving collected native working files.

In 2006, PDF was widely accepted as the standard print job format at the [[Open Source Development Labs]] Printing Summit. It is supported as a print job format by the [[CUPS|Common Unix Printing System]] and desktop application projects such as GNOME, [[KDE]], [[Firefox]], [[Mozilla Thunderbird|Thunderbird]], LibreOffice and [[OpenOffice.org|OpenOffice]] have switched to emit print jobs in PDF.<ref>{{cite web |title = PDF as Standard Print Job Format |date=October 23, 2009|url = http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/pdf_as_standard_print_job_format |website=The Linux Foundation |publisher=[[Linux Foundation]] |access-date=January 12, 2023|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091114130224/https://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/openprinting/pdf_as_standard_print_job_format|archive-date=November 14, 2009}}</ref>

Some desktop printers also support direct PDF printing, which can interpret PDF data without external help.