A PDF (Portable Document Format) is a standardized file format developed by Adobe Systems for the efficient and reliable distribution of electronic documents. PDF files encapsulate a document’s text, images, fonts, and formatting, ensuring that they appear consistently across various devices and platforms. PDFs are platform-independent, maintain a fixed layout, support security features, and can include interactive elements, making them a widely used format for sharing, presenting, and archiving documents of diverse types and purposes.
PDF files can be viewed using a variety of software applications and tools, making them accessible across different devices and operating systems. Adobe Acrobat Reader is a widely used and free PDF viewer available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Many modern web browsers, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari, also include built-in PDF viewers, simplifying the process of opening PDFs without additional software.