digital printing Digital printing is a method of printing from a Digital data, digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed usi ...

, a page description language (PDL) is a computer language that describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output

bitmap In computing, a bitmap (also called raster) graphic is an image formed from rows of different colored pixels. A GIF is an example of a graphics image file that uses a bitmap. As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a partic ...

(or generally

raster graphics upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through combination of the values for ...

). An overlapping term is printer control language, which includes Hewlett-Packard's

Printer Command Language Printer Command Language, more commonly referred to as PCL, is a page description language (PDL) developed by Hewlett-Packard as a printer protocol and has become a '' de facto'' industry standard. Originally developed for early inkjet printe ...

(PCL).

PostScript PostScript (PS) is a page description language and dynamically typed, stack-based programming language. It is most commonly used in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm, but as a Turing complete programming language, it c ...

is one of the most noted page description languages. The

markup language A markup language is a Encoding, text-encoding system which specifies the structure and formatting of a document and potentially the relationships among its parts. Markup can control the display of a document or enrich its content to facilitate au ...

adaptation of the PDL is the page description markup language. Page description languages are text (human-readable) or binary data streams, usually intermixed with text or graphics to be printed. They are distinct from graphics

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that des ...

s (APIs) such as

GDI GDI may refer to: Science and technology * Gasoline direct injection, a type of fuel injection * Graphics Device Interface, a component of Microsoft Windows * Guanosine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor, a protein Organisations * Gabriel Dumont I ...

and

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

that can be called by software to generate graphical output.

Notable examples

Various page description languages exist: * AFP, Advanced Function Presentation (

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

) * Apple Raster, formerly known as URF, used by the

AirPrint AirPrint is a feature in Apple Inc.'s macOS, iOS, and iPadOS operating systems for printing without installing printer-specific drivers. Connection is via a local area network (often via Wi-Fi), either directly to AirPrint-compatible printer ...

protocol. *

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

GARO, Graphic Arts language with Raster Operations (for large format printers), based on

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

PCL3GUI / RTL and CPCA job description language. * Common Ground page definition language * CPCL, Comtec Printer Control Language (now Zebra) * DjVu, a mixed raster content (MRC) format supporting OCR-based scanned documents (

AT&T Labs AT&T Labs, Inc. (formerly AT&T Laboratories, Inc.) is the research & development division of AT&T, the telecommunications company. It employs some 1,800 people in various locations, including: Bedminster, New Jersey; Middletown Township, New J ...

) * DPL, Datamax Printer Language (now

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...

) * DTPL, Datamax Ticket Printer Language * DVI, Device Independent, output from

TeX Tex, TeX, TEX, may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Tex Earnhardt (1930–2020), U.S. businessman * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer ...

* E411, Emulation 411, for Ticketing and Flight Strip (ATC) systems (IER) * EPL, Eltron Programming Language (now Zebra) *

Envoy Envoy or Envoys may refer to: Diplomacy * Diplomacy, in general * Envoy (title) * Special envoy, a type of Diplomatic rank#Special envoy, diplomatic rank Brands *Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft *Envoy (automobile), an au ...

page description language (

WordPerfect WordPerfect (WP) is a word processing application, now owned by Alludo, with a long history on multiple personal computer platforms. At the height of its popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the market leader of word processors, disp ...

) *

ESC/P ESC/P, short for Epson Standard Code for Printers and sometimes styled Escape/P, is a printer control language developed by Epson to control computer printers. It was mainly used in Epson's dot matrix printers, beginning with the MX-80 in 1980, as ...

Epson Seiko Epson Corporation, commonly known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Japan, t ...

Standard Code for Printers, simple language mainly used in

dot matrix printer Dot matrix printing, sometimes called impact matrix printing, is a computer printing process in which ink is applied to a surface using a relatively low-resolution dot matrix for layout. Dot matrix printers are a type of impact printer that p ...

s * ESC/P2, an expanded version of ESC/P * ESC/Page, Epson Standard Code for Page Printer, a page description language (distinct from ESC/P) used in a number of Epson laser printers, especially Japanese models *

ESC/POS ESC/P, short for Epson Standard Code for Printers and sometimes styled Escape/P, is a printer control language developed by Epson to control computer printers. It was mainly used in Epson's dot matrix printers, beginning with the MX-80 in 1980, as ...

Standard Code for POS printers * FGL, Friendly Ghost Language (Boca Systems) printers * Fingerprint, a programming language, Direct Protocol is subset of Fingerprint (

Intermec Intermec, Inc. was a manufacturer and supplier of automated identification and data capture equipment, including barcode scanners, barcode printers, mobile computers, RFID systems, voice recognition systems, and life cycle services. Intermec hel ...

) *

HP-GL HP-GL, short for Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language and often written as HPGL, is a printer control language created by Hewlett-Packard (HP). HP-GL was the primary printer control language used by HP plotters. It was introduced with the plotteHP-98 ...

and HP-GL/2, geometric language introduced by

for pen plotters, still in use today for technical drawings *

Interpress Interpress is a page description language developed at Xerox PARC, based on the Forth programming language and an earlier graphics language called JaM. PARC failed to commercialize it, so its creators, Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, founded Ad ...

(

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

) * IJPDS, Ink Jet Printer Data Stream (

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

) * IPDS, Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IBM) * IGP/PGL,

Printronix Printronix is an American supplier of Industrial Print Solutions, Industrial Laser Printers and line and dot matrix printers. Printronix is based in Irvine, California, and operates across 14 offices worldwide. Products Printronix's printers are ...

Graphics Language * IPL, Intermec Printer Language, a programming language for

printers (now a subsidiary of

) * KPDL,

Kyocera is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power genera ...

Page Description Language * LCDS/Metacode, a print stream format used in older high-speed printers (

) *

MODCA MO:DCA (Mixed Object:Document Content Architecture) is an IBM compound document format for text and graphics elements in a document. The 'Mixed Object' refers to the fact that an MO:DCA file can contain multiple types of objects, including text, i ...

, Mixed Object Document Content Architecture (IBM) * MTPL, Mannesmann Tally Printer Language * PCL, Printer Command Language (

) *

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

, Portable Document Format (

Adobe Systems Adobe Inc. ( ), formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American software, computer software company based in San Jose, California. It offers a wide range of programs from web design tools, photo manipulation and vector creation, through to ...

), now ISO 32000 *

(

) * PPDS, Personal Printer Data Stream * RPCS, Refined Printing Command Stream (

Ricoh is a Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company. It was founded by the now-defunct commercial division of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) known as the ''Riken Concern'', on 6 February 1936 as . Ricoh's hea ...

) * RTL (Raster Transfer Language, also known as PCL3GUI). Raster graphic command subset of Hewlett-Packard HP-GL/2, similar to PCL. * Star Line Mode, variant of ESC/POS used by

Star Micronics is a Japanese multinational electronic components and printer manufacturing company headquartered in Shizuoka, Japan. It was founded in 1947 as a precision processor of miniature components, later expanding into automatic lathes, printers ...

printers * SPL, Samsung Printer Language *

SVG Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an XML-based vector graphics format for defining two-dimensional graphics, having support for interactivity and animation. The SVG specification is an open standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium sin ...

, an XML-based graphics description language primarily developed for the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

* Canon SG Raster (Swift Graphics Raster for large format printers), based on Hewlett-Packard PCL3GUI / RTL and IVEC (XML formatted job description language) * TSPL/TSPL2, Taiwan Semiconductor Printing/Programming Language (

TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC or Taiwan Semiconductor) is a Taiwanese multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is one of the world's most valuable semiconductor companies, the world' ...

) * TTP, print language by Swecoin for kiosk printers (now Zebra) * UFR (Ultra Fast Rendering), a proprietary language (Canon) * XES, Xerox Escape Sequence * XPS, XML Paper Specification introduced in Windows Vista (

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

) * ZJS, ZjStream Page Description Language (Zenographics) * ZPL,

Zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), the plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. ...

Programming Language

References

{{Reflist

External links

Undocumented PrintingPrinter MIB Interpreters Language Families
��— contains example for PPDS
PPDS Escape codes
Computer printers Computer printing

Notable examples

See also

References

External links