Whitepaper

Ghent Workgroup
PDF Specification
Official name: GWG2015 - Digital
Based on PDF/X-4:2010
Variant family: Digital CutSheet

Authors Andrew Bailes-Collins, Peter Kleinheider

(Co-Chairs GWG Specification Subcommittee)
David van Driessche (GWG Executive Director)
Elli Cloots (GWG Vice Chair)
Date March 5, 19
Status Final

www.gwg.org
Table of Contents

1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................. 4
1.1 Goal of this document ...................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 How to use this document ............................................................................................................... 4
1.3 Compliancy ....................................................................................................................................... 4

2 Notations ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
3 Terms and Definitions .................................................................................................................................. 6
3.1 Print elements .................................................................................................................................. 6
3.2 Print content ..................................................................................................................................... 6
3.3 Path elements................................................................................................................................... 6
3.4 Text elements ................................................................................................................................... 6
3.5 Image elements ................................................................................................................................ 6
3.6 Bits per sample ................................................................................................................................. 6
3.7 1-Bit Image element ......................................................................................................................... 6
3.8 Continuous-Tone Image element .................................................................................................... 6
3.9 Image Mask element ........................................................................................................................ 6
3.10 White objects .................................................................................................................................... 7
3.11 100% Black objects .......................................................................................................................... 7
3.12 Effective line width ........................................................................................................................... 7
3.13 Effective image resolution ............................................................................................................... 7
3.14 Effective font size ............................................................................................................................. 7
3.15 Comparing for equal numeric values .............................................................................................. 8
3.16 Checking of optional content .......................................................................................................... 8

4 Requirements ............................................................................................................................................... 9
4.1 ISO Compliancy ................................................................................................................................ 9
4.2 Page Scaling ..................................................................................................................................... 9
4.3 Crop Box............................................................................................................................................ 9
4.4 Page Size and Orientation ............................................................................................................... 9
4.5 Empty Pages ..................................................................................................................................... 9
4.6 Number of Pages .............................................................................................................................. 9
4.7 Overprint Grayscale.......................................................................................................................... 9
4.8 Overprint White Text ...................................................................................................................... 10
4.9 Overprint White Paths .................................................................................................................... 10
4.10 Overprint 100% Black Text ............................................................................................................ 10
4.11 Overprint 100% Black Text defined in DeviceGray ....................................................................... 10
4.12 Overprint Thin 100% Black Line .................................................................................................... 10
4.13 Overprint Thin 100% Black Line defined in DeviceGray ............................................................... 10
4.14 Font Courier .................................................................................................................................... 10
4.15 Rich Black Text ............................................................................................................................... 10
4.16 Small Text ....................................................................................................................................... 11
4.17 Effective Line Width ........................................................................................................................ 11
4.18 Use of Spot Colors .......................................................................................................................... 11
4.19 Spot Color Naming ......................................................................................................................... 11
4.20 Ambiguous Spot Color ................................................................................................................... 11

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 4.21 Separation Color ‘All’ ..................................................................................................................... 12
4.22 Total Ink Area Coverage ................................................................................................................. 12
4.23 Classic Delivery Method ................................................................................................................. 12
4.24 2015 Delivery Method ..................................................................................................................... 12
4.25 Transparency Blend Color Space .................................................................................................. 13
4.26 Image Resolution for Grayscale and Color Images....................................................................... 13
4.27 Image Resolution for 1-bit Images ................................................................................................ 13
4.28 Single Image Page .......................................................................................................................... 14
4.29 Optional Content ............................................................................................................................ 14
4.30 Output Intent Color Space ............................................................................................................. 14

5 Variants ....................................................................................................................................................... 15
5.1 GWG_Digital_Cutsheet_2015_CMYK + RGB ................................................................................... 15

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1 Introduction
1.1 Goal of this document
This document describes the requirements that a PDF must comply with to follow the GWG2015 - Digital
specification. This document specifically addresses workflows where PDF files are digitally printed, either on
small format (cut sheet) presses or on large format devices (printers or presses). These two main workflows
are served by different variants defined in this document.

1.2 How to use this document

The description of the requirements in this document can be divided into 4 parts:
1. Terms and definitions
2. A description of each requirement
3. Each variant with an overview of its requirements
To implement or use a specific Variant, it’s best to go to the overview of that Variant in chapter 5. To
understand the details of a specific requirement, find that requirement with the exact same name in chapter
4. When a requirement uses a specific term, its definition is in chapter 3.
If you go straight to chapter 4, which lists all requirements, you will see that some requirements are
contradictory to each other. This is because some requirements are never part of the same Variant, but are
specific for different Variants.

1.3 Compliancy
A PDF file that meets all requirements listed for a specific variant in Section 5 shall be considered to be
conforming to that variant. When talking about conformance, the variant family and the variant name shall
be specified.
Example: This PDF complies to GWG2015 – Digital: GWG_Digital_CutSheet_2015.

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2 Notations

PDF operators, PDF keywords, the names of keys in PDF dictionaries, and other predefined names are
written in a bold sans serif type font; for example, the key Trapped.
Operands of PDF operators or values of dictionary keys are written in an italic sans serif font; for example the
False value for the Trapped key.

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3 Terms and Definitions
3.1 Print elements
Print elements are those elements (graphics objects [ISO 32000-1:2008, 8.2]) intended for final print
reproduction.

3.2 Print content

Print Content consists of print elements that do not lie completely outside the BleedBox, or if no BleedBox is
defined, outside the TrimBox.

3.3 Path elements

Path elements define arbitrary shapes made up of straight lines, rectangles, and cubic Bézier curves. They
shall be used to draw lines, define the shapes of filled areas, and specify boundaries for clipping other
graphics. [ISO 32000-1:2008, 8.5]
A path element shall be a sub-type of print content.

3.4 Text elements

Text elements are elements that take a string operand and paint the corresponding glyphs, using the current
font, other text state parameters and applicable parameters in the graphics state. [ISO 32000-1:2008, 9.4]
A text element shall be a sub-type of print content.

3.5 Image elements

Image elements are elements representing sampled images. [ISO 32000-1:2008, 8.9]
An image element shall be a sub-type of print content.

3.6 Bits per sample

Bits per sample is defined as the number of bits per color component multiplied by the number of
components per sample.

3.7 1-Bit Image element

1-bit images are Image elements where the number of bits per sample is 1.

3.8 Continuous-Tone Image element

Continous-Tone images are Image elements where the number of bits per sample is more than 1.

3.9 Image Mask element

Image masks are Image elements with an Image dictionary containing an ImageMask key with a value of
true.

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3.10 White objects
Any Path, Text or Image Mask element using the DeviceGray, DeviceCMYK, Separation or DeviceN color
spaces in the following way:
• DeviceCMYK with a value of 0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0
• Separation with a value of 0.0
• DeviceN where the value of all colorants is 0.0 - ignoring None components
• if not noted otherwise: DeviceGray with a value of 1.0

3.11 100% Black objects

Any Path, Text or Image Mask element using the DeviceGray, DeviceCMYK, Separation or DeviceN color
spaces in the following way:
• DeviceCMYK with a value of 0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0
• Separation Black with a value of 1.0
• DeviceN using the Black colorant with a value of 1.0, any other colorants - ignoring None components - all
with a value of 0.0
• DeviceGray with a value of 0.0
For the purpose of this specification, objects used with any of the following are never considered 100%
Black:
• blend mode other than Normal
• CA or ca value in an ExtGState dictionary other than 1.0
• inline images (unless their ImageMask entry is true)
• Image XObject (unless their ImageMask entry is true)
• Shading Patterns (aka smooth shades)

3.12 Effective line width

Line width is defined by the line width parameter of the graphics state (ISO 32000-1:2008, 8.4.1). Effective
line width for all path elements except the special case defined in the next paragraph shall be calculated by
combining the value of the graphics state parameter with the current transformation matrix (CTM).
It is possible to construct a path using either the line (‘l’) or rectangle (‘re’) path constructor operators (ISO
32000-1:2008, 8.5.2) that would technically be considered a rectangle but visually appears as a line due to its
small height or width. If such a path element of rectangular shape is using the same color space and color
values for stroke and fill, then the effective line width shall be calculated from the smallest dimension of fill
and stroke combined (height or width) of the element, combined with the CTM. If such a path element of
rectangular shape has no stroke but is filled instead, the effective line width shall be calculated from the
smallest dimension (height or width) of the element combined with the CTM.

3.13 Effective image resolution

Effective image resolution is defined by the Width and Height keys of the Image dictionary combined with
the current transformation matrix. If the effective image resolution differs between the Width and Height
directions, the smaller of the two values applies.

3.14 Effective font size

Effective font size is defined by the font size parameter of the text state (ISO 32000-1:2008, 9.3.1) and the text
matrix (ISO 32000-1, 9.4.2) combined with the current transformation matrix.

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3.15 Comparing for equal numeric values
When comparing numeric values the following rounding rules shall be applied. In this context the term
“digit” applies to the respective post-decimal place.
• Increase the last allowed digit by 1 if the next digit is 5 or more
• Leave the last allowed digit the same if the next digit is less than 5
The number of allowed digits depends on the type of object:
• Text element related values are rounded to 1 digit
• Image element related values are rounded to 0 digits
• Path element related values are rounded to 3 digits

Example: 2 text elements with a point size of 5.45 (rounded to 5.5) and 5.44 (rounded to 5.4) are defined as
'not equal'. But 2 text elements with a point size of 5.45 (rounded to 5.5) and 5.54 (rounded to 5.5) are
defined as 'equal'.

3.16 Checking of optional content

If the use of optional content is not further restricted by the requirements for a given Variant all print content
defined as visible per the Default state (value of the D key in the OCProperties dictionary) have to to be
checked.
Note: Checking of print content only visible in other optional content states has to be defined between the 2
parties (creation and reception).

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4 Requirements
Note: Only requirements defined in the list for a given variant have to be met.

4.1 ISO Compliancy

A PDF file shall be compliant to the ISO standard as defined in the Variants’ table.

Note 1: The other requirements of this document never discard any of the requirements of the applicable
PDF/X standard, rather to the contrary: a valid PDF file shall always comply with all of the PDF/X
requirements and shall in addition also comply with the GWG requirements for the respective Variant.
Example: compression using LZW is not allowed even if it is not explicitly mentioned in this document since
it is prohibited by PDF/X.
Note 2: It is a common understanding that XMP validation on a PDF/X-4 file is only done on document level
XMP and not XMP present elsewhere in the PDF file, e.g. for a single image object.

4.2 Page Scaling

No page dictionary in the PDF shall contain the UserUnit key.

4.3 Crop Box

If a CropBox key is present in any page dictionary, it shall have the same value as the MediaBox.

4.4 Page Size and Orientation

The effective size defined by the TrimBox key shall be equal for all pages of a PDF file. If a Rotate key is
present in a page dictionary, its value shall be 0.

4.5 Empty Pages

A PDF file shall not contain a page which does not contain any print content at all.

4.6 Number of Pages

The number of pages in a PDF file shall be exactly one (1).

4.7 Overprint Grayscale

Any print content defined in the color space DeviceGray shall not be set to overprint. This means it shall not
have a graphic state parameter OP or op with a value of true.
Any 100% Black elements defined in the color space DeviceGray covered by requirement 4.11 and 4.13
should be excluded from this requirement.

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 4.8 Overprint White Text
Any white text element shall not be set to overprint. This means it shall not have a graphic state parameter
OP or op with a value of true.

4.9 Overprint White Paths

Any white path element shall not be set to overprint. This means it shall not have a graphic state parameter
OP or op with a value of true.

4.10 Overprint 100% Black Text

Any 100% black text element whose effective text font size is smaller than 12.0 shall have a graphic state
parameter op with a value of true if it is filled and OP with a value of true if it is stroked.
If the current color space is DeviceCMYK then the value of the OPM key of the graphic state parameter
dictionary shall be 1.
If the current color space is DeviceGray, then this requirement shall not apply at all.

4.11 Overprint 100% Black Text defined in DeviceGray

Any 100% black text element whose effective text font size is smaller than 12.0 shall not be defined in the
color space DeviceGray.

4.12 Overprint Thin 100% Black Line

Any 100% black path element whose effective line width is less than 2.0 shall have a graphic state property
OP with a value of true if it is stroked and op with a value of true if it is filled.
If the current color space is DeviceCMYK then the value of the OPM key of the graphic state parameter
dictionary shall be 1.
If the current color space is DeviceGray, then this requirement shall not apply at all.

4.13 Overprint Thin 100% Black Line defined in DeviceGray

Any 100% black path element whose effective line width is less than 2.0 shall not be defined in the color
space DeviceGray.

4.14 Font Courier

Any text element which is not completely outside the TrimBox shall not use a font whose name is exactly
‘Courier’.
Note: Font names such as 'Courier New' are not prohibited.

4.15 Rich Black Text

If the value for the Black color component of a text element using the color space DeviceCMYK or the color
space DeviceN is equal to or larger than the value defined for a specific Variant (K), then the sum of all
process color component values for that text element shall not have a value that is larger than the value
defined for that specific Variant (T).

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 Note: If the current color space is DeviceN, this requirement only applies if the DeviceN color space contains
at least two process color components, with one of these process color components being Black.

4.16 Small Text

A PDF file shall not contain text elements that are smaller than the minimum text font size for text elements
colored with all colorants having a value equal to 0.0 or colored with more than 1 colorant having a value
greater than 0.0 as specified in the table of a specific Variant.
Note: The text font size is expressed in points, which is equivalent to units in PDF user space.

4.17 Effective Line Width

A PDF file shall not contain path elements with an effective line width smaller than the minimum effective
line width for path elements colored with all colorants having a value equal to 0.0 or colored with more than
1 colorant having a value greater than 0.0 as specified in the table of a specific Variant.

4.18 Use of Spot Colors

A PDF file shall not contain more than the maximum number, for the specified Variant, of named colorants in
the Separation or DeviceN color spaces. The colorant names Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, All and None are
not spot colors and as a consequence are to be not counted.

4.19 Spot Color Naming

A PDF file shall not contain two or more color component names for spot colors in the Separation or
DeviceN color spaces in the PDF whose names are equivalent.

Equivalence shall be determined in the following manner:

1) The name object(s) contained in the second element of the Separation or DeviceN colorspace array shall
be interpreted (after expansion of NUMBER SIGN sequences, if any) as a UTF-8 string.
2) The string shall be tokenized into three components - a prefix, a number, and a suffix. The number being
a sequential set of values from 30h (DIGIT ZERO) through 39h (DIGIT NINE), with prefix defined as any
characters preceding it and the suffix as any characters following.
3) The combination of prefix and number shall be used in a case-insensitive string comparison. The suffix
shall be ignored.

If the color component name for a spot color does not contain at least one digit, this requirement shall not
apply at all for this color component name.
If the PDF file contains two or more color component names for spot colors with the exact same name, this
requirement shall not apply at all for these color component names.

4.20 Ambiguous Spot Color

A PDF file shall not contain Separation colorspace definitions that are ambiguous. Ambiguity is defined as
having a different name, but equal alternate color representation, and shall be determined as specified in
the PDF/X-4 standard.

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4.21 Separation Color ‘All’
Any print content which is not completely outside the TrimBox shall not be defined in Separation color
space “All”.

4.22 Total Ink Area Coverage

The sum of all CMYK process color components of the rendered page appearance shall not exceed the
averaged value (A) within any square area (B) on the page content area inside the BleedBox, or if no
BleedBox is defined, inside the TrimBox.
Note: This implies that all aspects of a PDF file, like overprinting or transparency are being honored.

4.23 Classic Delivery Method

A PDF file shall not contain any print content that uses any of the following color spaces. These color spaces
shall not be used as an intended or alternate color space:
• DeviceRGB
• CalRGB
• CalGray
• ICCbased (i.e. ICC based grayscale, RGB, Lab and CMYK color spaces)

Additionally, print content shall not use the following color space as an intended color space:
• Lab

4.24 2015 Delivery Method

Print content elements that are image elements but not image mask elements, shall not use any of the
following color spaces as an intended color space:
• DeviceRGB
• ICCbasedGray
• CalGray
• ICCbasedCMYK

Print content elements that are not image elements or that are image mask elements, shall not use any of the
following color spaces as an intended color space:
• DeviceRGB
• CalRGB
• CalGray
• ICCbased (i.e. ICC based grayscale, RGB, Lab and CMYK color spaces)
• Lab

Additionally, print content elements shall not use the following color space as an alternate color space:
• DeviceRGB
• ICCbasedGray
• CalGray

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 4.23 Classic Delivery method 4.24 2015 Delivery Method
Intended color space Alternate color space Intended color space Alternate color space
images non-image images non-image
(excluding content (excluding content
imagemasks) (including imagemasks) (including
imagemasks) imagemasks)

DeviceGray ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
DeviceRGB ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔
DeviceCYMK ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
CalGray ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔
CalRGB ⛔ ⛔ ✅ ⛔ ✅ ✅
ICC based gray ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔
ICC based RGB ⛔ ⛔ ✅ ⛔ ✅ ✅
ICC based CMYK ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔ ⛔
ICC based Lab ⛔ ⛔ ✅ ⛔ ✅ ✅
Lab ⛔ ✅ ✅ ⛔ ✅ ✅
Separation - CMYK process colorants
(Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black) ✅ 💣💣 ✅ ✅ 💣💣 💣💣
Separation - CMYK spot colorants
(anything except Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black/None/All) ✅ 💣💣 ✅ ✅ 💣💣 💣💣
Separation - CMYK special colorants
(None/All) ✅ 💣💣 ✅ ✅ 💣💣 💣💣
DeviceN ✅ 💣💣 ✅ ✅ 💣💣 💣💣
Pattern ↗� 💣💣 ↗� ↗� 💣💣 💣💣
Indexed ↗� 💣💣 ↗� ↗� 💣💣 💣💣
↗�: depends on color spaces used by this color space

💣💣: not allowed by PDF syntax

💣💣

• ICCbasedCMYK

4.25 Transparency Blend Color Space

If a CS key is present in any transparency group attributes dictionary, it shall have the value DeviceCMYK.
For all soft-mask dictionaries whose S key has the value of Luminosity, the transparency group attributes
dictionary referenced from the G key shall have a CS key, whose value shall either be DeviceCMYK or
DeviceGray.

4.26 Image Resolution for Grayscale and Color Images

The effective resolution of continuous-tone image elements not covered by requirement 4.28 shall not be
lower than or equal to the value defined in the table specific for each Variant unless its width or height is 16
pixels or less. The effective image resolution is expressed in Pixels Per Inch (ppi).

4.27 Image Resolution for 1-bit Images

The effective resolution of 1-bit image elements shall not be lower than or equal to the value defined in the
table specific for each Variant unless its width or height is 16 pixels or less. The effective image resolution is
expressed in Pixels Per Inch (ppi).

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4.28 Single Image Page
If a PDF page contains only one (1) continuous-tone image with a bounding box of at least the size defined by
the TrimBox and no other print content, then that image shall not have an effective resolution lower than
the values defined in the table specific for each Variant. The effective image resolution value is expressed in
Pixels Per Inch (ppi).

4.29 Optional Content

If the document catalog dictionary contains an optional content properties dictionary (OCProperties) entry,
it shall not contain a Configs key.
Note: optional content hidden according to the optional content state of the Default (D) key in the
OCProperties dictionary is not to be rendered.
Note: this requirement means that only one view, being the default view as defined per the D entry in
OCProperties, is allowed. If other views than the default view are defined by means of the Configs entry, the
severity level in the Variant’s table will define whether this is to be flagged as an error or warning.

4.30 Output Intent Color Space

The color space of the ICC profile that is the destination profile in the PDF/X output intent object shall be
CMYK.

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 5 Variants
5.1 GWG_Digital_Cutsheet_2015_CMYK + RGB

Requirement Severity Value

ISO Compliancy (4.1) Error PDF/X-4:2010

Page Scaling (4.2) Error

Crop Box (4.3) Error

Page Size and Orientation (4.4) Warning

Overprint White Text (4.8) Error

Overprint White Paths (4.9) Warning

Rich Black Text (4.15) Warning K=0.85 T=2.8

Small Text (4.16) Warning A=5.0 B=5.0

Effective Line Width (4.17) Warning 0.25

Use of Spot Colors (4.18) Warning

Separation Color ‘All’ (4.21) Warning

2015 Delivery Method (4.24) Error

Transparency Blend Color Space (4.25) Error Classic

Image Resolution for Grayscale and Color Error 95 ppi

Images (4.26) Warning 149 ppi

Image Resolution for 1-bit Images (4.27) Error 349 ppi

Warning 599 ppi

Output Intent Color Space (4.30) Error

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