Trendy Prospects for PDF

PDF format

PDF has become the standard for cross-platform documents, both in business and private use. But this was not always the case. In this article, we take a brief look back at how PDF began, review its current status, and look ahead. Will PDF remain a trend in the future?

Who invented it​

PDF, the Portable Document Format, started as a proprietary software solution. The file format was invented by Adobe to solve a common problem: documents had to be reformatted repeatedly. Today, PDF is everywhere. PDF files can be opened across devices, operating systems, and software versions while content and layout remain unchanged.

Adobe pursued the idea of a common standard so that systems could produce identical results. No matter how often a PDF was shared, formatting should not change. The format was introduced and published in 1993. It took a few more years, however, before it became attractive for private users.

There were several reasons for this:

  1. In the early years, there were competing formats with similar approaches.
  2. Because PDF was initially proprietary, external application development was not possible. That changed later.
  3. Creating PDFs and using a PDF reader were not free at first. Today, both are widely available free of charge.

Who drove the breakthrough​

In early 2007, Adobe decided to fully disclose the Portable Document Format specifications to enable external development. PDF 1.7 was first submitted to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Later, it was also published through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which made PDF much more visible and popular worldwide. With almost 170 member countries, ISO has been setting international standards since 1946. For PDF, this was the breakthrough.

How often people search for PDF on the web​

Google Trends shows search behavior for specific terms on the internet. Results are relative to total search volume, making it possible to estimate when a term gained relevance and how it changed over time. For the term "PDF format," worldwide search behavior from 2007 to today looks like this:

Up to the end of 2021, search volume remained relatively stable. From January 2022 onward, demand increased, which could partly be related to changes in Google's data collection system.

A comparison with an early competing format, DjVu, shows a clear difference.

And compared with web searches for formats like .doc or .xls, search demand for PDF has remained more stable.

Why .doc and .xls lost relevance in search volume is open to interpretation. One possible reason is that files in these formats cannot always be displayed consistently across platforms.

Why PDF is so important​

One thing is clear: PDF remains highly relevant in both business and private contexts. PDFs are indispensable because they provide strong practical advantages:

  • Platform independence

    PDFs can be exchanged across platforms. Whether Windows, Apple, Unix, or Linux, a PDF can be opened reliably and displayed consistently.

  • Consistent formatting

    PDF avoids layout loss. That is one of the core strengths of the Portable Document Format. Documents converted to PDF can be shared easily without formatting changes when opened.

  • High security standard

    PDF documents can be encrypted to protect them from unauthorized access.

Strong prospects for PDF​

Once a format becomes a standard, it is not easily replaced. At the moment, there is no comparable format on the market that presents serious competition for PDF. Quite the opposite: continued development of PDF expands its use cases, for example PDF/A for long-term archiving, PDF/E for engineering, and PDF/UA for accessible PDF documents.

We are convinced that the PDF format will remain a strong trend and a core part of business workflows. That is why we develop practical PDF business solutions to make enterprise document management even more efficient.