According to a DaniWeb blog post the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) has been approved as a standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) [ISO International Standard - ISO 32000-1]. This bodes well for the Digital Preservation Coalition’s April 2008 report on using PDF/A as a preservation format. One of the concerns about using this format was its lack of a standard status, so Wednesday’s announcement gives the PDF format one more notch on its belt toward becoming a widely accepted standard for digital preservation.

One of my greatest misgivings about using PDF for preservation was its proprietary nature, but Kevin Lynch, Chief Technology Officer at Adobe, states that “By releasing the full PDF specification for ISO standardization, we are reinforcing our commitment to openness.” It’s a good trend and one that I hope continues.