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<h1><tt>ps2pdf</tt>: PostScript-to-PDF converter</h1>
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<h2>Table of contents</h2>
<blockquote><ul>
<li><a href="#Overview">Overview</a>
<li><a href="#Usage">Usage</a>
<li><a href="#Orientation">Setting page orientation</a>
<li><a href="#Options">Options</a>
<li><a href="#Color_Conversion_and_Management">Color Conversion and Management</a>
<li><a href="#PDFX">Creating a PDF/X-3 document</a>
<li><a href="#PDFA">Creating a PDF/A document</a>
<li><a href="#Limitations">Limitations</a>
<li><a href="#PPD">Ghostscript PDF Printer Description</a>
<li><a href="#Problems">Known problems</a>
<li><a href="#Ps2pdf_vs_AD">Comparison of <code>ps2pdf</code> and Acrobat Distiller</a>
<li><a href="#Acknowledgments">Acknowledgments</a>
</ul></blockquote>
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<p>For other information, see the <a href="Readme.htm">Ghostscript overview</a>.
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<hr>
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<h2><a name="Overview"></a>Overview</h2>
<code>ps2pdf</code> is a work-alike for nearly all the functionality (but
not the user interface) of Adobe's Acrobat<small><sup>TM</sup></small>
Distiller<small><sup>TM</sup></small> product: it converts PostScript files
to Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
<p>
<code>ps2pdf</code> is implemented as a very small command script (batch
file) that invokes Ghostscript, selecting a special "output device" called
<code>pdfwrite</code>.
<hr>
<h2><a name="Usage"></a>Usage</h2>
<p>
The usage for <code>ps2pdf</code> is
<blockquote><code>
ps2pdf</code> <em>[options] input.[e]ps output.pdf</em>
</blockquote>
<p>
or, on Unix systems and some versions of Windows NT and OS/2
<blockquote><code>
ps2pdf</code> <em>input.[e]ps</em>
</blockquote>
<p>
which is equivalent to
<blockquote><code>
ps2pdf</code> <em>input.[e]ps input.pdf</em>
</blockquote>
<p>
There are actually several different <code>ps2pdf</code><em>*</em> scripts:
the name <code>ps2pdf</code> above refers to any of them.
<ul>
<li><code>ps2pdf12</code> produces PDF 1.2 output (Acrobat 3-and-later
compatible).
<li><code>ps2pdf13</code> produces PDF 1.3 output (Acrobat 4-and-later
compatible).
<li><code>ps2pdf14</code> produces PDF 1.4 output (Acrobat 5-and-later
compatible).
<li><code>ps2pdf</code> per se currently produces PDF 1.4 output.
However, this may change in the future. If you care about compatibility
with a specific output level,use the
<code>-dCompatibilityLevel=</code><em>1.x</em> switch in the command
line, or one of the specific version aliases <code>ps2pdf12</code>,
<code>ps2pdf13</code>, or <code>ps2pdf14</code>.
</ul>
<p>
Note that if you specify a value for <code>PDFSETTINGS</code>, this
chooses PDF 1.3 or 1.4 output depending on the value of
<code>PDFSETTINGS</code>: this overrides the output format specified by
the script name. You can still specify the output format by using
<code>-dCompatibilityLevel=</code> <em>after</em>
<code>-dPDFSETTINGS=</code>.
<p>
All of these scripts actually call a script named <code>ps2pdfwr</code>
or <code>ps2pdfxx</code>. The Unix <code>ps2pdfwr</code> script
assumes that the Ghostscript executable is named <code>gs</code>; it is
unlikely that you will need to change this. The DOS and MS Windows
<code>ps2pdfxx.bat</code> script uses the value of the
<code>GSC</code> environment variable, if defined, as the name of the
executable; otherwise the script assumes the executable is named
<code>gswin32c</code>. So in these environments, if the executable has a
different name, you must set <code>GSC</code> to the name of the
executable.
<p>
Ordinarily a single PDF file will be written that includes all input files
(concatenated), but if the OutputFile is changed then the current pages
will be written and a new PDF file will be started.
<p><b>
Note that the OutputFile will always be written, and if there is no (further)
input the file will be a single blank page.
<p>
Also, if the OutputFile (or -o outputfile specification) contains a
<a href="Use.htm#One_page_per_file">format specifier</a> then there will be
one extra (blank page) file created as a result.
</b>
<hr>
<h2><a name="Orientation"></a>Setting page orientation</h2>
<p>
By default Ghostscript determines viewing page orientation based on the dominant
text orientation on the page. Sometimes, when the page has text in several
orientations or has no text at all, wrong orientation can be selected.
<p>
Acrobat Distiller parameter <code>AutoRotatePages</code> controls the
automatic orientation selection algorithm. On Ghostscript, besides
input stream, Distiller parameters can be given as command line arguments.
For instance: <code>-dAutoRotatePages=/None</code> or
<code>/All</code> or <code>/PageByPage</code>.
<p>
When there is no text on the page or automatic page rotation is set to
<code>/None</code> an orientation value from setpagedevice is used.
Valid values are: <code>0</code> (portrait),
<code>3</code> (landscape), <code>2</code> (upside down),
and <code>1</code> (seascape). The orientation can be set from the
command line as <code>-c "<</Orientation 3>> setpagedevice"</code>
using Ghostscript directly but cannot be set in <code>ps2pdf</code>.
See <a href="#Limitations">Limitations</a> below.
<p>
Ghostscript passes the orientation values from DSC comments to
<code>pdfwrite</code> driver, and these are compared with the
auto-rotate heuristic. If they are different then the auto-rotate
value will be used. To use the DSC comment instead select AutoRotatePages=/None
<hr>
<h2><a name="Options"></a>Options</h2>
<p>
The <em>options</em> in the command line may include any switches that may
be used with Ghostscript's PostScript and PDF interpreter (see <a
href="Use.htm#Options">here</a> for a complete list), although almost
none of them are useful with <code>ps2pdf</code>. The following may
be useful:
<dl>
<dt><code>-r</code><em>resolution</em>
<dd>Sets the resolution for pattern fills and for fonts that must be
converted to bitmaps. The default internal resolution for pdfwrite is 720dpi.
<dt><code>-dProcessColorModel=</code><em>device_color_space</em> <dd>Sets
the color space to be used for device-dependent colors in the
output. <em>device_color_space</em> may be <code>/DeviceGray</code>,
<code>/DeviceRGB</code>, or <code>/DeviceCMYK</code>; the default
value is <code>/DeviceRGB</code>. Note that this does not affect images:
see <a href="#Limitations">Limitations</a> below.
<dt><code>-dUNROLLFORMS</code><dd>When converting from PostScript,
pdfwrite (and ps2write) preserve the use of Form resources as Form
XObjects in the output. Some badly written PostScript can cause this
to produce incorrect output (the Quality Logic CET tests for example).
By setting this flag, forms will be unrolled and stored in the output
each time they are used, which avoids the problems. Note that the output
file will of course be larger this way.
We do not attempt to preserve Form XObjects from PDF files, unless they
are associaed with transparency groups.
</dl>
<p>
More importantly, <em>options</em> may include
<code>-d</code><em>parameter</em>=<em>value</em> or
<code>-s</code><em>parameter</em>=<em>string</em> switches for setting
"distiller parameters", Adobe's documented parameters for controlling the
conversion process. The PostScript <code>setdistillerparams</code> and
<code>currentdistillerparams</code> operators are also recognized when
running <code>ps2pdf</code>, and provide an equivalent way to set these
parameters from within the PostScript input file.
<p>
<code>ps2pdf</code> also recognizes the following options:
<dl>
<dt><code>-dCompressFonts=</code><em>boolean</em>
<dd>Defines whether <code>ps2pdf</code> will compress embedded fonts in
the output. The default value is <code>true</code>; the
<code>false</code> setting is intended only for debugging.
<dt><code>-dMaxInlineImageSize=</code><em>integer</em>
<dd>Specifies the maximum size of an inline image, in bytes. For images larger
than this size, <code>ps2pdf</code> will create an XObject instead of embedding
the image into the context stream.
The default value is <code>4000</code>.
Note that redundant inline images must be embedded each time they occur in the
document, while multiple references can be made to a single XObject image. Therefore
it may be advantageous to set a small or zero value if the source document is expected
to contain multiple identical images, reducing the size of the generated PDF.
<dt><code>-dPDFSETTINGS=</code><em>configuration</em>
<dd>Presets the "distiller parameters" to one of four predefined settings:
<ul>
<li><code>/screen</code> selects low-resolution output similar to the
Acrobat Distiller "Screen Optimized" setting.
<li><code>/ebook</code> selects medium-resolution output similar to the
Acrobat Distiller "eBook" setting.
<li><code>/printer</code> selects output similar to the Acrobat Distiller
"Print Optimized" setting.
<li><code>/prepress</code> selects output similar to Acrobat Distiller
"Prepress Optimized" setting.
<li><code>/default</code> selects output intended to be useful across a
wide variety of uses, possibly at the expense of a larger output file.
</ul>
<dt><code>-dDoNumCopies</code>
<dd>When present, causes pdfwrite to use the #copies or /NumCopies entry in the page
device dictionary to duplicate each page in the output PDF file as many times as
the 'copies' value. This is intended for use by workflow applications like CUPS
and should not be used for generating general purpose PDF files. In particular any
pdfmark operations which rely on page numbers, such as Link or Outline annotations
will not work correctly with this flag.
<dt><code>-dPreserveSeparation</code>
<dd>This takes a Boolean argument, when set to true (the default) any /Separation
color spaces in the input PostScript or PDF file will be preserved as /Separation
color spaces in the output. When false, the alternate space specified by the
original color space will be used instead.
<dt><code>-dPreserveDeviceN</code>
<dd>Behaves as per PreserveSeparation above except that it deals with DeviceN color
spaces.
<dt><code>-dDetectDuplicateImages</code>
<dd> Takes a Boolean argument, when set to true (the default) pdfwrite will compare all new images with all the images encountered to date (NOT small images which are stored in-line) to see if the new image is a duplicate of an earlier one. If it is a duplicate then instead of writing a new image into the PDF file, the PDF will reuse the reference to the earlier image. This can considerably reduce the size of the output PDF file, but increases the time taken to process the file. This time grows exponentially as more images are added, and on large input files with numerous images can be prohibitively slow. Setting this to false will improve performance at the cost of final file size.
<dt><code>-dFastWebView</code>
<dd> Takes a Boolean argument, default is false. When set to true pdfwrite will
reorder the output PDF file to conform to the Adobe 'linearised' PDF specification.
The Acrobat user interface refers to this as 'Optimised for Fast Web Viewing'.
Note that this will cause the conversion to PDF to be slightly slower and will
usually result in a slightly larger PDF file.</dd>
</dt>
</dl>
<p>
The following option specifies a conversion into PDF/X-3:
<p>
<dl>
<dt><code>-dPDFX=</code><em>boolean</em>
<dd>Specifies the generated document is to follow the PDF/X-3 standard.
When true, a <code>DefaultRGB</code> <code>ColorSpace</code> resource
must be defined, and options <code>NOSUBSTDEVICECOLORS</code>,
<code>NOCIE</code> must not be specified.
Default value is <code>false</code>.
</dl>
<p>
When generating a PDF/X-3 document, Ghostscript performs the following
special actions to satisfy the PDF/X-3 standard :
<ul>
<li> All fonts are embedded.
<li> <code>DeviceRGB</code> color space is substituted with
<code>the DefaultRGB</code> color space,
which must be defined in the <code>ColorSpace</code> category.
The easiest way is to provide it in the <code>DefaultRGB</code> file in the resource directory.
<li> <code>DeviceRGB</code> color values are passed unchanged.
If a user needs an non trivial color adjustment, a non trivial
<code>DefaultRGB</code> color space must be defined.
<li> Transfer functions and halftone phases are skipped.
<li> <code>/PS pdfmark</code> interprets the <code>DataSource</code>
stream or file.
<li><code>TrimBox</code> and <code>BleedBox</code> entries
are generated in page descriptions.
Their values can be changed using the
<code>PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset</code>,
<code>PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox</code>, and
<code>PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset</code>
distiller parameters (see below).
</ul>
<p>
The following options control a conversion into PDF 1.2:
<p>
<dl>
<dt><code>-dPatternImagemask=<em>boolean</em></code>
<dd>With <code>CompatibilityLevel < 1.3 </code> it specifies whether
the target viewer handles <code>ImageMask</code> with a pattern color.
Some old viewers, such as Ghostscript 3.30 fail with such constructs.
Seting this option to false, one can get more compatibility,
but the mask interpolation is lost.
With <code>CompatibilityLevel ≥ 1.3 </code> this option is ignored.
Default value is <code>false</code>.
<dt><code>-dMaxClipPathSize=<em>integer</em></code>
<dd>Specifies the maximum number of elements in the clipping path
that the target viewer can handle. This option is used only with
<code>CompatibilityLevel < 1.3</code> and
<code>PatternImagemask=false</code>,
and only when converting a mask into a clipping path.
If the clipping path exceeds the specified size,
the masked image and the clipping path is decomposed into smaller images.
The value of the option counts straight path segments
(curved segments are not used for representing a mask).
Default value is <code>12000</code>.
<dt><code>-dMaxShadingBitmapSize=<em>integer</em></code>
<dd>With <code>CompatibilityLevel < 1.3</code> it specifies
the maximum number of bytes allowed for representing a shading as a bitmap.
If a shading exceeds this value, the resolution of the output bitmap
is reduced to fit into the specified frame.
Note that the number of bytes depends on the number of color components
in <code>ProcessColorModel</code>, assumes 8 bits per sample,
and doesn't account an image compression or filtering.
Also note that reducing the resolution results unsmooth shading boundaries.
With <code>CompatibilityLevel ≥ 1.3</code> this option is ignored. Default value is <code>256000</code>.
For the best quality one can set the maximal integer value,
but the output file size may dramatically increase.
Therefore the user should choose a compromise value.
<dt><code>-dHaveTrueTypes=<em>boolean</em></code>
<dd>With <code>CompatibilityLevel < 1.3</code> it specifies
whether the target viewer can handle TrueType fonts.
If not, TrueType fonts are converted into raster fonts
with resolution specified in <code>HWResolution</code>.
With <code>CompatibilityLevel ≥ 1.3</code> this option is ignored. Default value is <code>true</code>.
</dl>
<p>
The following option controls a conversion into PDF 1.3:
<p>
<dl>
<dt><code>-dHaveTransparency=<em>boolean</em></code>
<dd>With <code>CompatibilityLevel ≥ 1.4</code> it specifies
whether the target viewer can handle PDF 1.4 transparency objects.
If not, transparency objects are converted into plain images.
Default value is <code>true</code>.
</dl>
<a name="Encryption"></a>
The following switches are used for creating encrypted documents :
<dl>
<dt><code>-sOwnerPassword=</code><em>string</em>
<dd>Defines that the document be encrypted with the specified
owner password.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>-sUserPassword=</code><em>string</em>
<dd>Defines the user password for opening the document.
If empty, the document can be opened with no password,
but the owner password is required to edit it.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>-dPermissions=</code><em>number</em>
<dd>Defines the PDF permissions flag field. Negative values are allowed
to represent unsigned integers with the highest bit set. See the PDF
Reference manual for the meaning of the flag bits.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>-dEncryptionR=</code><em>number</em>
<dd>Defines the encryption method revision number - either 2 or 3.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>-dKeyLength=</code><em>number</em>
<dd>Defines the length (in bits) of the encryption key.
Must be a multiple of 8 in the interval [40, 128].
If the length isn't 40, <code>-dEncryptionR</code> must be 3.
</dl>
<a name="Encryption"></a>
The following switches are used for generating metadata according to Adobe XMP specification :
<dl>
<dt><code>-sDocumentUUID=</code><em>string</em>
<dd>Defines a DocumentID to be included into the document Metadata.
If not specified, Ghostscript generates an UUID automatically.
Otherwise the specified string is copied into the document without
checking its syntax or consistence.
<p>
Note that Adobe XMP specification requires DocumentID must be same
for all versions of a document. Since Ghostscript does not provide
a maintenance of document versions, users are responsible to provide
a correct UUID through this parameter.
<p>
Note that Ghostscript has no assess to the host node ID
due to a minimization of platform dependent modules.
Therefore it uses an MD5 hash of the document contents for generating UUIDs.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>-sInstanceUUID=</code><em>string</em>
<dd>Defines a instance ID to be included into the document Metadata.
If not specified, Ghostscript generates an UUID automatically.
Otherwise the specified string is copied into the document without
checking its syntax or consistence.
<p>
Note that Adobe XMP specification requires instance ID must be inique
for all versions of document. This parameter may be used to disable
an unique ID generation for a debug purpose.
<p>
When none of <code>DocumentUUID</code>
and <code>InstanceUUID</code> are specified,
the generated DocumentID appears same as instance ID.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>-sDocumentTimeSeq=</code><em>integer</em>
<dd>Defines an integer to be used as a deconflictor for generating
UUIDs, when several invokations of Ghostscript create
several PDF documents within same clock quantum (tick).
Mainly reserved for very fast computers and/or multhithreading applications,
which may appear in future. If both <code>DocumentUUID</code>
and <code>InstanceUUID</code> are specified, <code>DocumentTimeSeq</code> is ignored.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>-sDSCEncoding=</code><em>string</em>
<dd>Defines a name of Postscript encoding in which
DSC comments are encoded in the source document.
If specified, the comments are converted
from that encoding into Unicode UTF-8 when writing <code>Metadata</code>.
If not specified, the comments are copied to <code>Metadata</code>
with no conversion. Note that Adobe Distiller for
Windows uses the default locale's code page
for this translation, so it's result may differ from Ghostscript.
Adobe Acrobat appears to use <code>PDFDocEncoding</code> when
displaying document's properties,
so we recommend this value.
</dl>
<p>
<code>ps2pdf</code> recognizes all of the Acrobat Distiller 5 parameters
defined in the DistillerParameters document included in the
<a href="http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/acrobat/sdk/index.html">Acrobat SDK</a>.
Cells in the table
containing '=' mean that the value of the parameter is the same as in the
"default" column.
<blockquote><table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
<tr valign=bottom>
<th align=left>Parameter name
<td>
<th align=left>Notes
<td>
<th align=left>default
<td>
<th align=left>screen
<td>
<th align=left>ebook
<td>
<th align=left>printer
<td>
<th align=left>prepress
<tr> <td colspan=13><hr>
<tr valign=top><td><code>AlwaysEmbed</code><td><td><a href="#note_13">(13)</a><td><td>[ ]<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>AntiAliasColorImages</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>AntiAliasGrayImages</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>AntiAliasMonoImages</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>ASCII85EncodePages</code><td><td><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>AutoFilterColorImages</code><td><td><a href="#note_1">(1)</a><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>AutoFilterGrayImages</code><td><td><a href="#note_1">(1)</a><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>AutoPositionEPSFiles</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>AutoRotatePages</code><td><td><td><td>/PageByPage<td><td>/PageByPage<td><td>/All<td><td>/None<td><td>/None
<tr valign=top><td><code>Binding</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>/Left<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>CalCMYKProfile</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>()<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>CalGrayProfile</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>()<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>CalRGBProfile</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>()<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>CannotEmbedFontPolicy</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>/Warning<td><td>/Warning<td><td>/Warning<td><td>/Warning<td><td>/Error
<tr valign=top><td><code>ColorACSImageDict</code><td><td><a href="#note_13">(13)</a><td><td><a href="#note_7">(note 7)</a><td><td><a href="#note_10">(note 10)</a><td><td><a href="#note_10">(note 10)</a><td><td><a href="#note_8">(note 8)</a><td><td><a href="#note_9">(note 9)</a>
<tr valign=top><td><code>ColorConversionStrategy</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0</a>,<a href="#note_6">6)</a><td><td>/LeaveColorUnchanged<td><td>/sRGB<td><td>/sRGB<td><td>/UseDeviceIndependentColor<td><td>/LeaveColorUnchanged
<tr valign=top><td><code>ColorImageDepth</code><td><td><td><td>-1<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>ColorImageDict</code><td><td><a href="#note_13">(13)</a><td><td><a href="#note_7">(note 7)</a><td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>ColorImageFilter</code><td><td><td><td>/DCTEncode<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>ColorImageDownsampleThreshold</code><td><td><td><td>1.5<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>ColorImageDownsampleType</code><td><td><a href="#note_3">(3)</a><td><td>/Subsample<td><td>/Average<td><td>/Bicubic<td><td>/Bicubic<td><td>/Bicubic
<tr valign=top><td><code>ColorImageResolution</code><td><td><td><td>72<td><td>72<td><td>150<td><td>300<td><td>300
<tr valign=top><td><code>CompatibilityLevel</code><td><td><td><td>1.4<td><td>1.3<td><td>1.4<td><td>1.4<td><td>1.4
<tr valign=top><td><code>CompressPages</code><td><td><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>ConvertCMYKImagesToRGB</code><td><td><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>ConvertImagesToIndexed</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>CoreDistVersion</code><td><td><td><td>4000<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>CreateJobTicket</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>true<td><td>true
<tr valign=top><td><code>DefaultRenderingIntent</code><td><td><td><td>/Default<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>DetectBlends</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>DoThumbnails</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>true
<tr valign=top><td><code>DownsampleColorImages</code><td><td><td><td>false<td><td>true<td><td>true<td><td>false<td><td>false
<tr valign=top><td><code>DownsampleGrayImages</code><td><td><td><td>false<td><td>true<td><td>true<td><td>false<td><td>false
<tr valign=top><td><code>DownsampleMonoImages</code><td><td><td><td>false<td><td>true<td><td>true<td><td>false<td><td>false
<tr valign=top><td><code>EmbedAllFonts</code><td><td><td><td>true<td><td>false<td><td>true<td><td>true<td><td>true
<tr valign=top><td><code>EmitDSCWarnings</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>EncodeColorImages</code><td><td><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>EncodeGrayImages</code><td><td><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>EncodeMonoImages</code><td><td><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>EndPage</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>-1<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>GrayACSImageDict</code><td><td><a href="#note_13">(13)</a><td><td><a href="#note_7">(note 7)</a><td><td><a href="#note_7">(note 7)</a><td><td><a href="#note_10">(note 10)</a><td><td><a href="#note_8">(note 8)</a><td><td><a href="#note_9">(note 9)</a>
<tr valign=top><td><code>GrayImageDepth</code><td><td><td><td>-1<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>GrayImageDict</code><td><td><a href="#note_13">(13)</a><td><td><a href="#note_7">(note 7)</a><td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>GrayImageDownsampleThreshold</code><td><td><td><td>1.5<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>GrayImageDownsampleType</code><td><td><a href="#note_3">(3)</a><td><td>/Subsample<td><td>/Average<td><td>/Bicubic<td><td>/Bicubic<td><td>/Bicubic
<tr valign=top><td><code>GrayImageFilter</code><td><td><td><td>/DCTEncode<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>GrayImageResolution</code><td><td><td><td>72<td><td>72<td><td>150<td><td>300<td><td>300
<tr valign=top><td><code>ImageMemory</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>524288<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>LockDistillerParams</code><td><td><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>LZWEncodePages</code><td><td><a href="#note_2">(2)</a><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>MaxSubsetPct</code><td><td><td><td>100<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>MonoImageDepth</code><td><td><td><td>-1<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>MonoImageDict</code><td><td><a href="#note_13">(13)</a><td><td><<K -1>><td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>MonoImageDownsampleThreshold</code><td><td><td><td>1.5<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>MonoImageDownsampleType</code><td><td><td><td>/Subsample<td><td>/Average<td><td>/Bicubic<td><td>/Bicubic<td><td>/Bicubic
<tr valign=top><td><code>MonoImageFilter</code><td><td><td><td>/CCITTFaxEncode<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>MonoImageResolution</code><td><td><td><td>300<td><td>300<td><td>300<td><td>1200<td><td>1200
<tr valign=top><td><code>NeverEmbed</code><td><td><a href="#note_13">(13)</a><td><td><a href="#note_11">(note 11)</a><a href="#note_12">(note 12)</a><td><td><a href="#note_11">(note 11)</a><a href="#note_12">(note 12)</a><td><td><a href="#note_11">(note 11)</a><a href="#note_12">(note 12)</a><td><td>[ ]<a href="#note_12">(note 12)</a><td><td>[ ]<a href="#note_12">(note 12)</a>
<tr valign=top><td><code>OffOptimizations</code><td><td><td><td>0<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>OPM</code><td><td><td><td>1<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>Optimize</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0</a>,<a href="#note_5">5)</a><td><td>false<td><td>true<td><td>true<td><td>true<td><td>true
<tr valign=top><td><code>ParseDSCComments</code><td><td><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo</code><td><td><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>PreserveCopyPage</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>PreserveEPSInfo</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>PreserveHalftoneInfo</code><td><td><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>PreserveOPIComments</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>true<td><td>true
<tr valign=top><td><code>PreserveOverprintSettings</code><td><td><td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>false<td><td>true<td><td>true
<tr valign=top><td><code>sRGBProfile</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>()<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>StartPage</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>1<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>SubsetFonts</code><td><td><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>TransferFunctionInfo</code><td><td><a href="#note_4">(4)</a><td><td>/Preserve<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>UCRandBGInfo</code><td><td><td><td>/Remove<td><td>/Remove<td><td>/Remove<td><td>/Preserve<td><td>/Preserve
<tr valign=top><td><code>UseFlateCompression</code><td><td><a href="#note_2">(2)</a><td><td>true<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
<tr valign=top><td><code>UsePrologue</code><td><td><a href="#note_0">(0)</a><td><td>false<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=<td><td>=
</table></blockquote>
<p>
<a name="note_0">(note 0)</a>
This parameter can be set and queried, but currently has no effect.
<p>
<a name="note_1">(note 1)</a>
<code>-dAutoFilterxxxImages=false</code> works since Ghostscript version 7.30.
Older versions of Ghostscript don't examine the image to
decide between JPEG and LZW or Flate compression: they always uses
Flate compression.
<p>
<a name="note_2">(note 2)</a>
Because of Unisys's threats regarding the Welch patent,
<code>ps2pdf</code> does not actually use LZW compression: instead, it
treats all requests for LZW compression as calling for Flate compression.
Concomitantly, <tt>UseFlateCompression</tt> is treated as always on, and
the value of this parameter is ignored as with note 0. Now that the patent
has expired, we could change this should it become worthwhile.
<p>
<a name="note_3">(note 3)</a>
The <code>xxxDownsampleType</code> parameters can also have the value
/Bicubic (a Distiller 4 feature), which is currently treated as equivalent
to /Average.
<p>
<a name="note_4">(note 4)</a>
Currently, the transfer function is always applied. If the corresponding
parameter is set to <code>/Preserve</code>, the function setting is also
copied into the PDF file.
<p>
<a name="note_6">(note 6)</a>
Ghostscript specifics : The value <code>UseDeviceIndependentColor</code>
requires the device parameter <code>UseCIEColor</code> to be set to
<code>true</code>.
The value <code>UseDeviceIndependentColorForImages</code> works same as
<code>UseDeviceIndependentColor</code>.
The value <code>CMYK</code> works with any <code>CompatibilityLevel</code> and
requires the device parameter <code>ProcessColorModel</code> to be set
to <code>DeviceCMYK</code>.
The value <code>sRGB</code> requires the device parameter
<code>ProcessColorModel</code> to be set to <code>DeviceRGB</code>,
and actually converts to RGB with the default Ghostscript conversion.
The new Ghostscript-specific value <code>Gray</code> requires the device
parameter <code>ProcessColorModel</code> to be set to
<code>DeviceGray</code>, and converts all colors to DeviceGray.
The old Ghostscript-specific value <code>UseDeviceDependentColor</code>
is now depricated. It is automaticly replaced with <code>sRGB</code>,
<code>CMYK</code>, or <code>Gray</code>.
With the new color conversion code active it is no longer neccesary to
set <code>ProcessColorModel</code> when selecting <code>Gray</code>, <code>RGB</code> or <code>CMYK</code>. It is also no
longer neccesary to set <code>UseCIEColor</code> for <code>UseDeviceIndependentColor</code> to
work properly, and the use of <code>UseCIEColor</code> is now strongly discouraged. <code>sRGB</code>
is not supported, use <code>RGB</code> instead.
<p>
<a name="note_7">(note 7)</a>
The default image parameter dictionary is
<blockquote><code>
<< /QFactor 0.9 /Blend 1 /HSamples [2 1 1 2] /VSamples [2 1 1 2] >>
</code></blockquote>
<p>
<a name="note_8">(note 8)</a>
The printer ACS image parameter dictionary is
<blockquote><code>
<< /QFactor 0.4 /Blend 1 /ColorTransform 1 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >>
</code></blockquote>
<p>
<a name="note_9">(note 9)</a>
The prepress ACS image parameter dictionary is
<blockquote><code>
<< /QFactor 0.15 /Blend 1 /ColorTransform 1 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1] >>
</code></blockquote>
<p>
<a name="note_10">(note 10)</a>
The screen and ebook ACS image parameter dictionary is
<blockquote><code>
<< /QFactor 0.76 /Blend 1 /ColorTransform 1 /HSamples [2 1 1 2] /VSamples [2 1 1 2] >>
</code></blockquote>
<p>
<a name="note_11">(note 11)</a>
The default, screen, and ebook settings never embed the 14 standard fonts
(Courier, Helvetica, and Times families, Symbol, and ZapfDingbats).
This behavior is intentional but can be overrided by:
<blockquote><code>
<< /NeverEmbed [ ] >> setdistillerparams
</code></blockquote>
<p>
<a name="note_12">(note 12)</a>
<code>NeverEmbed</code> can include CID font names.
If a CID font is substituted in <code>lib/cidfmap</code>,
the substitute font name is used when the CID font is embedded,
and the original CID font name is used when it is not embedded.
<code>NeverEmbed</code> should always specify the original CID font
name.
<p>
<a name="note_13">(note 13)</A>
The arrays <code>AlwaysEmbed</code> and <code>NeverEmbed</code> and
image parameter dictionaries <code>ColorACSImageDict</code>,
<code>ColorACSImageDict</code>, <code>ColorImageDict</code>,
<code>GrayACSImageDict</code>, <code>GrayImageDict</code>,
<code>MonoImageDict</code> cannot be specified on the ps2pdf command line.
To specify these, you must use PostScript, either by including it in the PostScript source
or by passing the <code>-c</code> command-line parameter to ghostscript as described in <a href="#Limitations">Limitations</A> below.
For example, including the PostScript string in your file <tt>in.ps</tt>:
<blockquote><tt><</AlwaysEmbed [/Helvetica /Times-Roman]>> setdistillerparams</tt></blockquote>
is equivalent to invoking:
<blockquote><code>gs -dBATCH -dSAFER -DNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=out.pdf -c
'.setpdfwrite <</AlwaysEmbed [/Helvetica /Times-Roman]>> setdistillerparams' -f
in.ps</code></blockquote>
or using <code>ps2pdf</code> with the extra parameters in a file:
<blockquote><code>ps2pdf @params.in out.pdf</code></blockquote>
where the file <b>params.in</b> contains:
<blockquote><code>-c '<</AlwaysEmbed [/Helvetica /Times-Roman]>> setdistillerparams' -f
in.ps</code></blockquote>
<hr>
<h2><a name="Color_Conversion_and_Management"></a>Color Conversion and Management</h2>
<p>
As of the 9.11 pre-release, the color management in pdfwrite has been substantially
altered so that it now uses the same Color Management System as rendering (the default
is LCMS2). This considerably improves the color handling in both pdfwrite and ps2write,
particularly in the areas of Spearation and DeviceN color spaces, and Indexed color
spaces with images. Despite lengthy careful testing it is possible that there will be
bugs in this initial implementation and so the following switch is available.
</p>
<dl>
<dt><code>-dPDFUseOldCMS=</code><em>boolean</em>
<dd>Defaults to false, when true this uses the old system for color conversions.
</dl>
<p>If you do encoutner any problems with the new color conversion code, please do open a bug report. This switch
is temporary and will be removed in future releases, do not rely on its availability.</p>
<p>
The <code>ColorConversionStrategy</code> switch can now be set to <code>LeaveColorUnchanged</code>, <code>Gray</code>, <code>RGB</code>, <code>CMYK</code> or
<code>UseDeviceIndependentColor</code>. Note that, particularly for ps2write, <code>LeaveColorUnchanged</code> may still need to convert
colors into a different space (ICCbased colors cannot be represented in PostScript for example). In
this case the color space chosen will be whatever the current ProcessColorModel is set to, so it is
worth setting this as well, if it is important that the color space be controlled.
</p>
<p>ps2write cannot currently convert into device-independent color spaces, and so <code>UseDeviceIndependentColor</code>should not be used with ps2write.
</p>
<p>All other color spaces are converted approproately. Separation and DeviceN spaces will be preserved if possible (ps2write cannot preserve DeviceN)
and if the alternate space is not appropriate a new alternate space will be created. Eg a [/Separation (MyColor) /DeviceRGB {...}]
when the <code>ColorConversionStrategy</code> is set to <code>CMYK</code> would be converted to [/Separation (MyColor) /DeviceCMYK {...}]
The new tint transform would be created by sampling the original tint transform, converting the RGB values into CMYK, and then creating
a function to linearly interpolate between those values.</p>
<p>Finally, because the PDF/A-1 specificatin requires that ICC profiles be Version 2, and we do not yet have a means to
guarantee that the profiles we create will be version 2 profiles, if you select PDF/A-1 conformance the code will
automatically use the old CMS.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="PPD"></a>Ghostscript PDF Printer Description</h2>
<p>
To assist with creating a PostScript file suitable for conversion
to PDF, ghostscript includes <a href="../lib/ghostpdf.ppd">ghostpdf.ppd</a>,
a PostScript Printer Description (PPD) file.
This allows some <a href="#Options">distiller parameters</a>
to be set when a PostScript file is generated.
<h3>Windows XP or 2000</h3>
<p>
To install a "Ghostscript PDF" printer on Windows XP,
select the Windows Control Panel,
Printers and Faxes,
Add a Printer,
Local Printer,
Use port FILE: (Print to File),
Have Disk...,
select the directory containg
<a href="../lib/ghostpdf.ppd">ghostpdf.ppd</a>
and
<a href="../lib/ghostpdf.inf">ghostpdf.inf</a>,
select "Ghostscript PDF",
Replace existing driver (if asked),
and answer the remaining questions appropriately.
After installing, open the "Ghostscript PDF" properties,
select the Device Settings tab,
set "Mimimum Font Size to Download as Outline" to 0 pixels.
<p>
To set distiller parameters, select the "Ghostscript PDF"
Printing Preferences, then the Advanced button.
The PDF settings are under "Printer Features".
<hr>
<h2><a name="PDFX"></a>Creating a PDF/X-3 document</h2>
<p>
To create a PDF/X-3 document from a Postscript or a PDF file, you should :
<ul>
<li> Specify the <code>pdfwrite</code> device or use the <code>ps2pdf</code> script.
<li> Specify the <code>-dPDFX</code> option. It provides the document conformity
and forces <code>-dCompatibilityLevel=1.3</code>.
<li> Specify <code>-sColorConversionStrategy=/Gray</code>, <code>-sColorConversionStrategy=/CMYK</code>
or <code>-sColorConversionStrategy=/UseDeviceIndependentColor</code>(<code>RGB</code> is not allowed).
If you plan to create a device-independent color PDF file then you should set the ProcessColorModel
using <code>-sProcessColorModel=DeviceGray</code> or <code>-sProcessColorModel=DeviceCMYK</code>.
<li> Specify a PDF/X definition file before running the input document.
It provides additional information to be included into the output document.
A sample PDF/X definition file may be found in <code>gs/lib/PDFX_def.ps</code>.
<li> If a registered printing condition is applicable, specify its identifier
in the PDF/X definition file. Otherwise provide an ICC profile and
specify it in the PDF/X definition file as explained below.
<li> Provide a <code>DefaultRGB</code> resource file in the ColorSpace resource category.
Either define it in the PDF/X definition file, or provide
a definition of <code>gs/Resource/ColorSpace/DefaultRGB</code> .
<code>gs/Resource/ColorSpace/DefaultRGB</code> is usually
distributed with Ghostscript, its content may not necessarily satisfy your needs, see below.
<li> Specify, using <code>-sOutputICCProfile</code>, an ICC profile which represents the color
space (either CMYK or Gray) of the final file. This is the same ICC profile used in the
PDF/X definition file as the ICCProfile. Even if you are using a standard OutputCondition and
do not need to specify an ICCProfile, you must still set OutputICCProfile with an appropriate
ICC profile in order for proper color conversion.
</ul>
<p>
As mentioned above, the PDF/X definition file provides special information,
which the PDF/X-3 standard requires. You can find a sample file in
<code>gs/lib/PDFX_def.ps</code>, and edit it according to your needs.
The file follows Postscript syntax and uses the operator <code>pdfmark</code>
to pass the special information. For your comfort
we marked the lines likely to need editing in the sample file with the comment <code>% Customize</code>.
They are explained below.
<dl>
<dt><code>OutputCondition</code> <em>string</em>
<dd>Defines an <code>OutputCondition</code> value for the output intent dictionary.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>OutputConditionIdentifier</code> <em>string</em>
<dd>Defines an <code>OutputConditionIdentifier</code> value for the output intent dictionary.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>ICCProfile</code> <em>string</em>
<dd> May be omited if <code>OutputConditionIdentifier</code>
specifies a registed identifier of characterized printing condition
(see http://www.color.org/IPA_2003-11_PDFX.pdf).
Defines a file name of an ICC profile file to be included into the output document.
You may specify either an absolute file name, or a relative
path from the working directory.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>Title</code> <em>string</em>
<dd>Defines the document title. Only useful if the source Postscript file doesnt
define a title with DSC comments. Otherwise remove entire line from definition file.
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><code>Info</code> <em>string</em>
<dd>Defines an <code>Info</code> value for the output intent dictionary.
</dl>
<p>Ghostscript distribution does not contain an ICC profile to be used
for creating a PDF/X-3 document. Users should either create an appropriate one themselves,
or use one from a public domain, or create one with the PDF/X-3 inspector freeware.
<p>The PDF/X-3 standard requires a <code>TrimBox</code> entry
to be written for all page descriptions.
This is an array of four offsets
that specify how the page is to be trimmed
after it has been printed.
It is set to the same as <code>MediaBox</code> by default
unless the <code>PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset</code>
distiller parameter is present.
It accepts offsets to the <code>MediaBox</code> as an array
[<i>left right top bottom</i>],
e.g., the PostScript input code
<code><< /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset
[10 20 30 40] >> setdistillerparams</code>
specifies that 10 points will be trimmed at the left,
20 points at the right,
30 points at the top,
and 40 points at the bottom.
<p>Another page entry is the <code>BleedBox</code>.
It gives the area of the page
to which actual output items may extend;
cut marks, color bars etc.
must be positioned in the area between the <code>BleedBox</code>
and the <code>MediaBox</code>.
The <code>TrimBox</code> is always contained within the
<code>BleedBox</code>.
By default,
the <code>PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox</code> distiller parameter
is <code>true</code>,
and the <code>BleedBox</code> is set to the same values
as the <code>MediaBox</code>.
If it is set to <code>false</code>,
the <code>PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset</code>
parameter gives offset to the <code>TrimBox</code>.
It accepts a four-value array in the same format as the
<code>PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset</code> parameter.
<p>
Here is a sample command line to invoke Ghostscript for generating a PDF/X-3 document :
<blockquote><code>
gs -dPDFX -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dNOOUTERSAVE -sColorConverionStrategy=/CMYK -sOutputICCProfile="ISO Coated sb.icc" -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=out-x3.pdf PDFX_def.ps input.ps
</code></blockquote>
<p>
Please also see the <code>PDFACompatibilityPolicy</code> control described under "Creating a PDF/A document" below. The same control is now used to specify the desired behaviour when an input file cannot be converted 'as is' into a PDF/X file.
<p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="PDFA"></a>Creating a PDF/A document</h2>
<p>
To create a PDF/A document, please follow the instructions for <a href="#PDFX">creating a PDF/X-3 document</a>,
with the following exceptions :
<ul>
<li> Specify the <code>pdfwrite</code> device or use the <code>ps2pdf</code> script.
<li> Specify the <code>-dPDFA</code> option to specify PDF/A-1, or <code>-dPDFA=2</code> for PDF/A-2.
<li> Specify <code>-sColorConversionStrategy=/RGB</code>, <code>-sColorConversionStrategy=/CMYK</code>
or <code>-sColorConversionStrategy=/UseDeviceIndependentColor</code>.
If you plan to create a device-independent color PDF file then you should set the ProcessColorModel
using <code>-sProcessColorModel=DeviceRGB</code> or <code>-sProcessColorModel=DeviceCMYK</code>.
<li> Specify, using <code>-sOutputICCProfile</code>, an ICC profile which represents the color
space (either CMYK or RGB) of the final file. This is the same ICC profile used in the
PDF/X definition file as the ICCProfile.
<li> Specify a PDF/A definition file before running the input document.
It provides additional information to be included in the output document.
A sample PDF/A definition file may be found in <code>gs/lib/PDFA_def.ps</code>.
You will need to modify the content of this file; in particular you must alter the
/ICCProfile so that it points to a valid ICC profile for your OutputIntent. The
string '(...)' defining the ICCProfile must be a fully qualified device and path
specification appropriate for your Operating System.
</ul>
There is one additional control for PDF/A output:
<dl>
<dt><code>PDFACompatibilityPolicy</code> <em>integer</em>
<dd>When an operation (eg pdfmark) is encountered which cannot be emitted in a PDF/A compliant file, this policy is consulted, there are currently three possible values:
<blockquote>0 - (default) Include the feature or operation in the output file, the file will not be PDF/A compliant. Because the document Catalog is emitted before this is encountered, the file will still contain PDF/A metadata but will not be compliant. A warning will be emitted in this case.
</blockquote>
<dd>
<blockquote>1 - The feature or operation is ignored, the resulting PDF file will be PDF/A compliant. A warning wil be emitted for every elided feature.
</blockquote>
<dd>
<blockquote>2 - Processing of the file is aborted with an error, the exact error may vary
depending on the nature of the PDF/A incompatibility.
</blockquote>
</dl>
Here is a sample command line to invoke Ghostscript for generating a PDF/A document :
<blockquote><code>
gs -dPDFA=1 -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dNOOUTERSAVE -sColorConversionStrategy=/RGB -sOutputICCProfile=srgb.icc -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=out-a.pdf PDFA_def.ps input.ps
</code></blockquote>
<p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="Limitations"></a>Limitations</h2>
<p>
<code>ps2pdf</code> will sometimes convert PostScript constructs to
lower-level ones, even if a higher-level construct is available. For
example, if the PostScript file uses <code>charpath</code> to set a
clipping path consisting of text, <code>ps2pdf</code> will write the
clipping path as a path in the PDF file, rather than as text, even though
PDF is able to express clipping with text. This is only a performance
issue, and will be improved incrementally over time.
<p>
Some applications, such as HIGZ, produce PostScript files that use
ridiculously large coordinates. On such files, <code>ps2pdf</code> may
cause a <code>limitcheck</code> error. If this occurs, try reducing the
default internal resolution of 720 dpi by using the <code>-r</code>
switch, e.g., <code>ps2pdf -r300 somefile.ps</code>.
<p>
<code>ps2pdf</code> ignores the PDF 1.3 (Acrobat 4.x) pdfmarks related to
document content structure: <code>StRoleMap</code>,
<code>StClassMap</code>, <code>StPNE</code>,
<code>StBookmarkRoot</code>, <code>StPush</code>,
<code>StPop</code>, <code>StPopAll</code>, <code>StBMC</code>,
<code>StBDC</code>, <code>EMC</code>, <code>StOBJ</code>,
<code>StAttr</code>, <code>StStore</code>, <code>StRetrieve</code>,
<code>NamespacePush</code>, <code>NamespacePop</code>, and
<code>NI</code>. While this causes some structural information to be
omitted from the output file, the displayed and printed output are normally
not affected.
<p>
<code>ps2pdf</code> currently has only very limited support for PDF 1.4.
It writes out the blend mode, constant alpha, and text knockout graphics
state parameters, and it handles images with soft masks, but it does not
handle transparency groups, or soft masks in the graphics state. (Note that
there is no standard way to specify any of these things in PostScript, so
these statements only apply when the input file is already a PDF 1.4 file.)
<p>
<code>ps2pdf</code> provides a simplified interface to the Ghostscript
command line. It is not possible to use <code>-c</code> option directly or pass
multiple source files. For the unrestricted access to the command line
parameters, use Ghostscript directly as in:
<blockquote><code>
gs -q -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sOutputFile=file.pdf </code><em>[more options]</em><code> \<br>
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite -c .setpdfwrite -f </code><em>source1.ps [more files]</em>
</blockquote>
or create a parameter file with the <code>-c</code> option and/or the multiple input files:
<blockquote><code>
ps2pdf @params.in out.pdf
</code></blockquote>
where the file <b>params.in</b> contains:
<blockquote><code>-c</code> <em>Postscript commands</em> <code>-f</code> <em>source1.ps [more files]</em>
</blockquote>
See <a href="Language.htm#.setpdfwrite">Language.htm</a> for details
of the <tt>.setpdfwrite</tt> operator.
<hr>
<h2><a name="Problems"></a>Known problems</h2>
<p>
Distiller parameters should only be saved by <code>save</code> and
restored by <code>restore</code>, but they are also saved by
<code>gsave</code> and restored by <code>grestore</code>.
<p>
Changing the value of the <code>CompressPages</code> parameter after any
marks have been made on the page may cause a crash.
<p>
Ghostscript has been writing incorrect <code>ToUnicode CMap</code> without
<code>CMapName</code> into the PDF since version 8.10 (rev. 3611) . This bug
is fixed in version 8.54 (rev. 6201). We recommend to re-generate PDF files
created by the affected Ghostscript versions. Since version 8.54 (rev. 6590)
Ghostscript can read the incorrect PDF files.
<hr>
<h2><a name="Ps2pdf_vs_AD"></a>Comparison of <code>ps2pdf</code> and
Acrobat Distiller</h2>
<p>
According to users, the greatest benefit of <code>ps2pdf</code> is that
it is more robust than Acrobat Distiller: it will process complex and
difficult PostScript files that Acrobat Distiller is not able to handle.
<p>
For certain documents, <code>ps2pdf</code> is much faster than Adobe
Distiller, and may be suitable for run-time conversions. George White,
a heavy user of <code>ps2pdf</code>, remarks:
<blockquote>
I haven't seen a head to head comparison, but Distiller seems
slower when running on what should be a faster system (for instance,
Distiller on a PPC Mac vs a 25 MHz 68040 NeXT running
<code>ps2pdf</code>), so I think this is fair -- also, one of Mark
Doyle's postings indicated that Distiller was not fast enough for use as a
run-time server. In contrast, I find that I can use <code>ps2pdf</code>
as a post-processor during routine document creation.
</blockquote>
<p>
On the other hand, there are some documents for which <code>ps2pdf</code>
may be much slower than Acrobat Distiller. Caveat user.
<p>
<code>ps2pdf</code> usually produces output that is comparable in size to
the output of Acrobat Distiller; however, it sometimes produces much larger
output, especially if the input file involves pattern fills.
<p>
Many users report that the combination of <code>ps2pdf</code> with
Acrobat Reader is superior to using a generic PostScript viewer
(<code>psview</code> or <code>ghostview</code>), particularly for
documents with many pages where the navigational support in PDF files
reduces the overhead involved in navigating conventional PostScript
documents.
<hr>
<h2><a name="Acknowledgments"></a>Acknowledgments</h2>
<p>
Thanks to George N. White III <<a href="mailto:aa056@chebucto.ns.ca">aa056@chebucto.ns.ca</a>> of the Ocean
Sciences Division of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth,
Nova Scotia for extensive testing of early versions of
<code>ps2pdf</code>, and for contributing most of this writeup.
<p>
Thanks to Martin Hosken of SIL International <<a
href="http://www.sil.org">http://www.sil.org</a>> for help with testing
<code>ps2pdf</code> with a wide variety of international fonts.
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<p>
<small>Copyright © 2000-2006 Artifex Software, Inc. All rights reserved.</small>
<p>
This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express or
implied.
This software is distributed under license and may not be copied, modified
or distributed except as expressly authorized under the terms of that
license. Refer to licensing information at http://www.artifex.com/
or contact Artifex Software, Inc., 7 Mt. Lassen Drive - Suite A-134,
San Rafael, CA 94903, U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861, for further information.
<p>
<small>Ghostscript version 9.14, 26 March 2014
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