ISO 24517-1:2008

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 24517-1
First edition
2008-05-15

Document management — Engineering
document format using PDF —
Part 1:
Use of PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1)
Gestion de documents — Format de documents d'ingénierie utilisant le
PDF —
Partie 1: Utilisation du PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1)




Reference number
ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
©
ISO 2008

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ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
PDF disclaimer
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accepts no liability in this area.
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the unlikely event that a problem relating to it is found, please inform the Central Secretariat at the address given below.


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©  ISO 2008
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
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ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
Contents Page
Foreword .v
Introduction.vi
1 Scope.1
2 Normative references.1
3 Terms and definitions .2
4 Notations .3
5 PDF/E-1 conforming files and readers .3
6 Syntax.4
6.1 File header.4
6.2 File trailer.4
6.3 Document ID .4
6.4 Cross-reference tables and cross-reference streams.4
6.5 Document information dictionary.4
6.6 String objects.4
6.7 Stream objects.4
6.8 Linearized PDF.5
6.9 Implementation limits.5
7 Graphics .5
7.1 General .5
7.2 Output intent .5
7.3 Colour spaces.5
7.4 Images .7
7.5 Form XObjects .7
7.6 Reference XObjects.7
7.7 PostScript XObjects.7
7.8 Shading operator.7
7.9 Extended graphics state.7
7.10 Rendering intents .7
7.11 Content streams .8
7.12 Optional content .8
7.13 Print scaling .8
8 Fonts.8
8.1 General .8
8.2 Font types.9
8.3 Composite fonts .9
8.4 Embedded font programs.9
8.5 Font subsets .10
8.6 Character encodings.10
9 Annotations.10
9.1 General .10
9.2 Annotation types .11
9.3 Annotation dictionaries .11
10 Interactive forms.11
11 Actions.11
11.1 General .11
11.2 Hypertext links.12
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ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
12 Presentations .12
13 Metadata .12
13.1 General.12
13.2 Version Identification .12
13.3 Document information dictionary .13
13.4 XMP header .14
13.5 File identifiers.14
13.6 File provenance information.14
13.7 Validation.14
14 Embedded files .14
15 Multimedia .15
15.1 General.15
15.2 Self-contained .15
15.3 Handling of multimedia .15
15.4 Must-have parameters.15
15.5 Alternate presentations.15
16 3D .15
16.1 General.15
16.2 Display of 3D annotations.15
16.3 Supported 3D formats .15
16.4 3D JavaScript .16
17 Unrecognized data.16
17.1 Extensions to the PDF format .16
18 Encryption .16
18.1 General.16
18.2 Encryption version .16
18.3 Direct objects in the encryption dictionary.17
18.4 User access permissions.17
19 Digital signatures.17
19.1 General.17
19.2 Declaring the presence of signatures .17
19.3 Signature dictionaries .17
19.4 Signature reference dictionaries.17
19.5 Document permissions dictionary.18
19.6 Detection and notification.18
19.7 Display of signature fields .18
19.8 Detection of changes .18
19.9 Prevention of changes .18
19.10 Verification of the identity of signer .18
Annex A (informative) PDF/E use cases .19
Bibliography .26

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ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies
(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO 24517-1 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 171, Document management applications,
Subcommittee SC 2, Application issues.
ISO 24517 consists of the following parts, under the general title Document management — Engineering
document format using PDF:
⎯ Part 1: Use of PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1)

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ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
Introduction
The ISO 24517 series defines a file format for the exchange of engineering documents based on the PDF
format for various communities working with engineering documentation. It is a multi-part standard with
subsequent parts expected to address future workflow and data requirements. The ISO 24517 series
improves document exchange, collaboration, and print accuracy within engineering workflows, both inside
companies and with extended enterprises of partners, suppliers, customers, government organizations and
citizens. It will enable organizations to streamline engineering workflows that incorporate diverse sets of
complex documents, resulting in improved productivity and the ability to more quickly deliver better products to
market. It defines the features of PDF that are required, recommended, restricted, or prohibited when creating,
viewing, marking up, printing, analysing, and distributing engineering documents. It takes into consideration
the differing needs of both interactive and non-interactive readers.
The ISO 24517 series specifies the proper use of PDF for on-screen display and printing of engineering
documents. Printed engineering documents are assemblies of a page (or pages) created by different
organizations which can be inter-departmental or inter-company. It also defines a framework for representing
the logical structure and other semantic information of engineering documents within conforming files.
The ISO 24517 series is intended to provide a format for the development of various applications, such as
products that read, render, write, print, and validate PDF conforming documents. Different products will
incorporate various capabilities to prepare, interpret, and process conforming objects. Adobe Systems
Incorporated makes the PDF specification publicly available. However, the inclusive, feature-rich nature of the
format requires that additional constraints be placed on its use to make it suitable for engineering workflow
documents.
PDF/E allows engineering professionals to reliably create, exchange, and review engineering documentation,
including large format documents. PDF/E enables organizations to work more effectively when creating or
exchanging engineering documentation.
AIIM, an accredited standards developing organization, maintains an ongoing series of application notes for
guiding developers and users of this part of ISO 24517. These application notes are available at
http://www.aiim.org/. AIIM will also retain copies of the specific non-ISO normative references of this part of
ISO 24517 which are publicly available electronic documents.



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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 24517-1:2008(E)

Document management — Engineering document format using
PDF —
Part 1:
Use of PDF 1.6 (PDF/E-1)
1 Scope
This part of ISO 24517 specifies the use of the Portable Document Format (PDF) Version 1.6 for the creation
of documents used in engineering workflows.
This part of ISO 24517 does not define the following:
⎯ method of electronic distribution;
⎯ method of creation or conversion from paper or electronic documents to the PDF/E format;
⎯ specific technical design, user interface, or implementation;
⎯ required computer hardware and/operating systems; or
⎯ methods for validating the conformance of PDF/E files or readers.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 19005-1:2005, Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation —
Part 1: Use of PDF 1.4 (PDF/A-1)
ICC.1:2004-10 (Profile version 4.2.0.0), Image technology colour management — Architecture, profile format,

and data structure, International Color Consortium (available from www.color.org)
Adobe PDF Reference, fifth edition version 1.6, ISBN 0-321-30474-8 (available from
)
Errata for Adobe PDF Reference, fifth edition version 1.6, 31 August 2005 (available from
)
Addendum on Blend Modes. Adobe Systems Incorporated, January 23, 2006 (available from
)

XMP Specification, XMP™: Adding Intelligence to Media, Adobe Systems Incorporated, September 2005
(available from http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/xmp/sdk/xmpspecification.pdf)
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ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1
reader
software application that is able to read and process files
3.2
PDF/E-1 conforming reader
software application that is able to read and process PDF/E-1 files in accordance with this part of ISO 24517
3.3
interactive PDF/E-1 conforming reader
PDF/E-1 conforming reader that provides an enhanced level of functionality for some or all of the interactive
features of PDF/E-1
3.4
non-interactive PDF/E-1 conforming reader
PDF/E-1 conforming reader that provides no enhanced level of functionality for the interactive features of
PDF/E-1
3.5
electronic document
electronic representation of a page-oriented aggregation of text and graphic data, and metadata useful to
identify, understand, and render that data, that can be reproduced on paper or optical microform without
significant loss of its information content
3.6
EOF marker
end-of-file marker
five character sequence denoted as “%%EOF” marking the end of a PDF file
3.7
EOL marker
end-of-line marker
one or two character sequence marking the end of a line of text, consisting of a CARRIAGE RETURN
character (0Dh) or a LINE FEED character (0Ah) or a CARRIAGE RETURN followed immediately by a LINE
FEED
3.8
PDF
Portable Document Format
file format defined in Portable Document Format Version 1.6 and its Errata
3.9
writer
software application that is able to write files
3.10
PDF/E-1 conforming file
PDF/E-1 file
file encompassing all requirements of this part of ISO 24517
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ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
4 Notations
For the purposes of this part of ISO 24517, references to “PDF Reference” are to the Adobe PDF Reference,
fifth edition version 1.6, as modified by Errata for PDF Reference, fifth edition version 1.6, and by Addendum
on Blend Modes as identified in Clause 2.
PDF operators, PDF keywords, the names of keys in PDF dictionaries, and other predefined names are
written in bold sans serif font; operands of PDF operators or values of PDF dictionary keys are written in italic
sans serif font.
EXAMPLE 1 The Default value for the TR2 key.
Token characters used to delimit objects and describe the structure of PDF files, as defined in PDF Reference,
3.1, may be identified by their ISO/IEC 10646 character name written in uppercase in bold sans serif font
followed by a parenthetic two digit hexadecimal character value with the suffix “h”.
EXAMPLE 2 CARRIAGE RETURN (0Dh).
Text string characters in content streams, as defined by PDF Reference, 3.8.1, may be identified by their
ISO/IEC 10646 character name written in uppercase in bold sans serif font followed by a parenthetic four-digit
hexadecimal character code value with the prefix “U+”.
EXAMPLE 3 EN SPACE (U+2002).
5 PDF/E-1 conforming files and readers
This part of ISO 24517 specifies the use of the PDF file format for the exchange of digital data representing a
compound entity.
A PDF/E-1 conforming file is a PDF file in which those features necessary for the exchange of a compound
entity are in accordance with this part of ISO 24517. A PDF/E-1 conforming file may also include other valid
PDF features that do not affect display or function of the compound entity.
PDF/E-1 conformance is identified by use of the pdfe:ISO_PDFEVersion property as defined in 13.3. The
value of the ISO_PDFEVersion key in the document information dictionary shall be PDF/E-1 for a PDF/E-1
conforming file. Neither the version number in the header of a PDF file, nor the value of the Version key in the
Catalog of a PDF file indicates that a file is in accordance with this part of ISO 24517.
NOTE 1 These values are specified in Table 1 of 13.3.
Although PDF Reference permits compliance with earlier versions of PDF, features described in versions of
the PDF specification earlier than 1.6, but not described in PDF Reference, shall not be used in a PDF/E-1
conforming file.
A PDF/E-1 conforming writer is a software application that is able to write files in accordance with the
requirements of this part of ISO 24517.
A PDF/E-1 conforming reader is a software application that shall be able to read and appropriately process all
PDF/E-1 files in a manner conforming to the requirements for PDF/E-1 files as defined in this part of
ISO 24517.
A PDF/E-1 conforming reader may parse PDF files that are not PDF/E-1 conforming files. The behaviour of a
PDF/E-1 conforming reader on non-conforming files is beyond the scope of this part of ISO 24517.
Rendering of PDF/E-1 conforming files shall be performed as defined in the PDF Reference and as restricted
by this part of ISO 24517. To the extent that the PDF Reference and this part of ISO 24517 permit more than
one rendering of a PDF/E-1 conforming file, a PDF/E-1 conforming reader may use embedded job ticket or
metadata information to control the rendering of the file more precisely. Furthermore, interactive PDF/E-1
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ISO 24517-1:2008(E)
conforming readers may provide user interface elements to control dynamic features of PDF/E-1 such as
optional content, three dimensional (3D) and multimedia.
NOTE 2 A PDF/E-1 conforming file is not obligated to use any PDF feature other than those explicitly required by the
PDF Reference or this part of ISO 24517.
6 Syntax
6.1 File header
The % character of the file header shall occur at byte offset 0 of the file.
6.2 File trailer
The file trailer dictionary shall contain the ID keyword. The value for the ID entry shall be an array of length
two, containing two non-empty string objects.
6.3 Document ID
If the document catalog contains an Encrypt entry, the value for the ID entry in the document trailer and the
strings contained in the ID array shall be direct.
NOTE This provision ensures that the ID entry can always be located and read when the document is encrypted. A
circular dependency condition arises when encryption algorithms use the document ID strings and those strings are
indirect, because the PDF Reference states that all indirect objects outside the encryption dictionary itself require
encryption. These problems are further compounded when object streams are present in the file, because the ID strings
could be embedded inside an encrypted object stream.
6.4 Cross-reference tables and cross-reference streams
Any indirect object whose offset is not referenced in a cross-reference table or cross-reference stream shall
be exempt from all requirements of this part of ISO 24517. A PDF/E-1 conforming reader shall not use any
such objects in any sort of processing or presentation of a PDF/E document.
6.5 Document information dictionary
A document information dictionary may be defined in a PDF/E-1 conforming file. If defined, its elements shall
be consistent with analogous XMP metadata properties defined in the XMP Specification as specified in
Clause 13.
6.6 String objects
Hexadecimal strings shall contain an even number of non-white-space characters, each in the range 0 to 9,
A to F, or a to f.
6.7 Stream objects
The value of the Length key specified in the stream dictionary shall match the number of bytes in the file
following the LINE FEED character after the stream keyword and preceding the EOL marker before the
endstream keyword.
NOTE 1 These requirements remove potential ambiguity regarding the ending of stream content.
A stream object dictionary shall not contain the F, FFilter, or FDecodeParams keys.
NOTE 2 These keys are used to point to document content external to the file. The explicit preclusion of these keys
has the implicit effect of disallowing external content that can create ex
...