The .RDO (Raster Document Object) file format is the native format used by Xerox's DocuTech range of hardware and software, that underpins the company's "Xerox Document On Demand" "XDOD" systems. It is therefore a significant file format for the "print on demand" market sector, along with PostScript and PDF.
RDO is a metafile format based on the Open Document Architecture (ODA) specifications: In Xerox's RDO implementation, description and control information is stored within the RDO file, while raster images are stored separately, usually in a separate folder, as TIFF files. The RDO file dictates which bitmap images will be used on each page of a document, and where they will be placed.
This approach has advantages and disadvantages over the monolithic approach used by PDF: The disadvantages of RDO are that it is a largely proprietary format, and the multi-file approach means that file management and orphan control is more of an issue: one cannot tell from a computer's file system whether all the files required for a document to print are present and correct.
RDO may stand for: