The de facto standard page description language (PDL) in the graphics arts industry as well as in commercial printing. Developed by Adobe, many printers and most imagesetters support PostScript by having a built-in PostScript interpreter.
Printing on a PostScript Printer
When a document is printed on a PostScript printer, it is converted to a PostScript file directly from the graphics or page layout program or by the operating system's PostScript printer driver. The PostScript interpreter in the printer converts the text commands into the printer's machine language, which rasterizes the pages and prints them. See rasterize.
When documents are sent to a commercial printer, they are sent in their native page layout format, such as InDesign or QuarkXPress, or as PDF files. The printing house then converts the documents to PostScript.
PostScript and PDF
PostScript was designed as a language to direct the printer or imagesetter hardware. Although based on PostScript, PDF was designed for viewing and interacting with the documents. See PDF and Acrobat.
PostScript Levels
Adobe PostScript Level 2, introduced in 1990, added data compression and enhancements for color printing. Level 3 (1997) added more enhancements and native fonts and the ability to directly support more formats, including HTML, PDF, GIF and JPEG.
Encapsulated Postscript
Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is a subset of PostScript that is used to exchange graphics in the PostScript format. The graphics content may be any combination of vector and raster graphics as well as text. See EPS, Adobe Type Manager and PostScript fonts.
Printing on a PostScript Printer
When a document is printed on a PostScript printer, it is converted to a PostScript file directly from the graphics or page layout program or by the operating system's PostScript printer driver. The PostScript interpreter in the printer converts the text commands into the printer's machine language, which rasterizes the pages and prints them. See rasterize.
When documents are sent to a commercial printer, they are sent in their native page layout format, such as InDesign or QuarkXPress, or as PDF files. The printing house then converts the documents to PostScript.
PostScript and PDF
PostScript was designed as a language to direct the printer or imagesetter hardware. Although based on PostScript, PDF was designed for viewing and interacting with the documents. See PDF and Acrobat.
PostScript Levels
Adobe PostScript Level 2, introduced in 1990, added data compression and enhancements for color printing. Level 3 (1997) added more enhancements and native fonts and the ability to directly support more formats, including HTML, PDF, GIF and JPEG.
Encapsulated Postscript
Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is a subset of PostScript that is used to exchange graphics in the PostScript format. The graphics content may be any combination of vector and raster graphics as well as text. See EPS, Adobe Type Manager and PostScript fonts.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- PDF ActiveX DLL 2.2.83 (Windows)
- PDF ActiveX DLL is a powerful ActiveX DLL for programmatically creating Adobe Acrobat PDF files from practically any type of file - Excel worksheets, Word documents, Powerpoint files, Access reports, Crystal Reports, AutoCAD drawings, Publisher files, image files, text files. Create a single PDF file from multiple Postscript files! In...
- Software downloads 2009-11-20
- PDF Create .NET 2.0.3469 (Windows)
- PDF Create .NET is a powerful .NET component for C# and Visual Basic .NET developers to programmatically create PDF files from practically any type of file. File types include Excel worksheets, Word documents, Powerpoint files, Access reports, Crystal Reports, AutoCAD drawings, Publisher files, image files, text files. Create a single...
- Software downloads 2009-11-20
- Wireshark 1.2.4 (Mac)
- Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer, and is the standard in many industries. It is the continuation of a project that started in 1998. Hundreds of developers around the world have contributed to it, and it is still under active development. Read/write many different aWireshark is the world's...
- Software downloads 2009-11-16
- BatchOutput Server 4.2.4 (Mac)
- BatchOutput Server completely automates InDesign output workflow of entire company by processing files from network-based hotfolders. BatchOutput Server offloads printing and exporting to PDF and PostScript to a central system leaving operator workstations free from the output process. BatchOutput Server is intended to run on a dedicated machine, performs all...
- Software downloads 2009-11-09
- PCLReader 8.895 (Windows)
- PCLReader Views & Converts PCL & Text into PDF, PDF/A, XPS, TIFF, BMP, PNG, PCX and ASCII Text. Once viewed, a PCL or Text file can be printed to any Windows printer driver. This is useful in when you have a non-LaserJet PCL printer and need to print a Mortgage...
- Software downloads 2009-11-06
- MBC4 4.30f1 (Mac)
- MBC4 produces barcodes as EPS files for use in XPress, Photoshop, FreeHand and Illustrator as well as many other graphics packages.It has all of the ease-of-use, accuracy and and safety of MBC3 and the previous versions of MacBarcoda, but now has new barcode types, new features and greater support for...
- Software downloads 2009-11-06
- Font Fitting Room Standard 3.2.2 (Windows)
- Font Fitting Room is a preview and management tool for both installed and uninstalled fonts, with full character map and multilingual name property support. It lets you view, inventory and manage fonts. Font Fitting Room handles the most popular font types used on PC today, allows you to add them...
- Software downloads 2009-11-05
- BatchOutput 3.5.5 (Mac)
- BatchOutput is a powerful professional solution to automate printing, export to PDF, PostScript, EPS, JPEG, SWF and XFL of InDesign documents. You can also export multipage InDesign documents as single page PDF and PostScript files with variable file names, send files to printer as single pages and change job name...
- Software downloads 2009-11-04
- IGOR Pro 6.12 (Mac)
- IGOR Pro is an interactive environment for experimentation with scientific and engineering data and for the production of publication-quality graphs and page layouts. IGOR Pro produces publication-quality graphics: IGOR prints at the full resolution of the printer and exports high-resolution graphics formats such as Encapulated PostScript EPS. IGOR Pro can...
- Software downloads 2009-11-04
- Man Viewer 3.1.1 (Mac)
- Man viewer is a easy to use program to view the man pages that are installed on the current system. The user can search and filter the man pages based on name and section. The user can also export the man page to plain text and styled PostScript. Read the...
- Software downloads 2009-10-24
- Encore 5.0.2 (Windows)
- Complete scoring features, auto part extraction, MIDI and VSTi playback keep you in control. Whether you play directly into Encore or transcribe your MIDI files, you get accurate notation and beautiful printouts every time. You can extract parts, transpose for different instruments, and play your music as you originally conceived...
- Software downloads 2009-10-24
- FontXChange 2.1.1 (Mac)
- FontXChange can easily convert fonts to OpenType PS, PostScript Type 1, and TrueType for both Macintosh or Windows. Useful features include: Batch processing for converting entire font libraries Preferences to set font encodings Font inspection window with preview Support for many font encodings, including Adobe Standard, Unicode, Mac Roman,...
- Software downloads 2009-10-20
- PDFGarden 3.1.0 (Mac)
- PDFGarden is a very powerful utility that lets anyone combine, transform, arrange and reorder multiple source PDF documents. PDFGarden features a small footprint, and can efficiently work with thousands of PDF files and/or with PDF documents that contain thousands of pages. Feature highlights: Delete, combine, split functionality. Automatic pair pages...
- Software downloads 2009-10-20
- Inkscape 0.47pre4.1 (Mac)
- Inkscape is an open source drawing tool with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, and CorelDraw that uses the W3C standard scalable vector graphics format SVG. Some supported SVG features include basic shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, and grouping. In addition, Inkscape supports Creative Commons meta-data, node-editing,...
- Software downloads 2009-10-18
- TEC-IT TFORMer 6.0.1 (Windows)
- With TFORMer Designer you create business forms, labels, reports, serial letters, invoices, airway bills within minutes and without programming skills. The print kernel of TFORMer has a built-in bar code generator for linear and 2D symbologies, so you don't need to upgrade your printer or buy expensive hardware for bar...
- Software downloads 2009-10-12
- oXygen XML Editor 11.0 (Mac)
- Oxygen is a Java-based XML editor with support for XML, XSL, TXT, XSD and DTD documents. It has Unicode support and the interface messages are translated in English, French, German, Italian and Romanian. It offers end tag auto-completion and a powerful code insight that guide the user to write valid...
- Software downloads 2009-10-09
- PDFtypewriter with PDF Printer Driver 6.2.1360 (Windows)
- PDFtypewriter is your complete PDF solution: Create-Edit-Form Fill-Design Forms. Create PDF documents from any program with the PDFtypewriter Printer Driver. PDFs created are of the highest quality, distilled directly from printer Postscript. Creation options include encryption, tagging, compression, font embedding. Open PDF files easily in this alternative PDF editor. Then...
- Software downloads 2009-10-08
- Batch & Print Pro 3.05 (Windows)
- Batch & Print Pro is for batching documents as retainable lists, which can be automatically printed in, document sequence of your choice. All associated shell printable documents are supported, PDF, MS Word, HTML, text files, image formats, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations. Batch & Print Pro software monitors the spool queue...
- Software downloads 2009-10-06
- FontDoctor 7.7.0 (Mac)
- FontDoctor has long been the industry standard software tool for font problem diagnosis, repair, organization, and now font archiving and back-up. FontDoctor is a professional software application that will locate and eliminate hard-to-find font problems that wreak havoc on the Macintosh system performance and applications. FontDoctor will scan font folders...
- Software downloads 2009-10-02
- Veusz 1.5 (Mac)
- Veusz is a scientific plotting package written in Python. It uses PyQt for display and user-interfaces, and numarray for handling the numeric data. Veusz is designed to produce publication-ready Postscript output plots can additionally saved to SVG or printed to PDF. Veusz provides a GUI, command line and scripting interface...
- Software downloads 2009-10-01
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
- Keep Up With The Latest In Document Management with The DocuMentor.
-
Doc delivers the scoop on today's enterprise content management, printer maintenance, and all other issues related to document management. It's the DocuMentor Blog.
- Learn more >>
- New Online Dashboard for IT Leaders
-
Read about top issues IT decision-makers face every day, plus get cost-effective solutions to real-life IT problems.
- Learn more >>
- Reduce risk. Reduce complexity. Increase reliability.
-
A simplified IT environment isn't just less complex. It's also more reliable. Standardize on a single Linux platform with SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell, and get the world's most interoperable Linux
- Learn more >>
- The more you simplify, the more you save
-
When you transition from your existing Red Hat environment to SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell, you can recognize dramatic cost savings, perhaps as much 50%
- Learn more >>
SmartPlanet
- Thought-provoking progressive ideas on diverse topics that intersect with technology, business, and life, and matter to the world at large. Visit SmartPlanet
- More from IBM
-
- How to Drive Better Business Outcomes with Exceptional Web Experiences Download the eBook
- Driving Business Agility through SOA Connectivity & Integration Read the White Paper from IBM
- Linking Decisions and Information for Organizational Performance Read the Tom Davenport study
