ISO 15930 (PDF/X)

The ISO 15930 family of standards define PDF/X, which support the graphic arts and professional printing sectors. PDF/X was the first standardized PDF subset and thus is also now the largest family of the ISO PDF subsets. The ISO 15930 family of PDF/X standards includes several documents which have been withdrawn or have published errata (see here for a list of all PDF/X ISO publications) and, as a result, a year is sometimes required to create an unambiguous PDF/X conformance level.  Many later parts also include multiple conformance levels, designated by additional letter combinations append after the PDF/X version designator.

All versions of PDF/X use XMP metadata to declare their conformance.

PDF/VT further extends and refines to PDF/X to support variable data printing. Additional print workflow and metadata standards can also be used to specify print product processing and job ticketing details.

Application Notes for PDF/X-4 and PDF/X-6 supplement the ISO 15930 family of standards by providing additional information and guidance.

Current PDF/X conformance levels are listed below:

The "X" in PDF/X represents "eXchange", referring to the exchange of digital print data as PDF between a print buyer and a print producer.