What is PostScript?
The language PDF came from — and still the last mile of many legacy pipelines. Drop a .ps file below for a free structural scorecard — no install, no signup.
PostScript parses natively in Preflight — structural scorecard + regression diff (compliance modules run on PDF & AFP).
Frequently asked questions
What is PostScript?
Adobe’s 1984 page-description language — and unlike PDF, a full Turing-complete programming language. A .ps file is a program that, when executed by a RIP, draws pages. PDF was created later precisely to tame that: same imaging model, no arbitrary programs.
PostScript vs PDF — what’s the practical difference?
A PDF page is a declarative object you can jump to; a PostScript page is whatever the program has drawn by the time it says showpage. That’s why PDF won for exchange — and why legacy PostScript in production pipelines is hard to inspect and QC.
What is an EPS file?
Encapsulated PostScript — a single-image PostScript fragment with a declared bounding box, made to be placed inside other documents. Still common as a legacy logo/artwork format.
Why is PostScript hard to QC?
Because you can’t know what a program draws without running it. Preflight analyzes the structural layer — document structure conventions, resources, page boundaries, variable fields — and reports what’s determinable, honestly, without executing arbitrary code.