Stable release | 17.9
|
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Operating system | Windows, Mac OS, Solaris, Unix |
License | Same as Adobe Acrobat |
Website | helpx |
Adobe Acrobat Distiller is a software application for converting documents from PostScript format to Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format), the native format of the Adobe Acrobat family of products.[1] It was first shipped as a component of Acrobat in 1993.[2] Acrobat 4, in 1999, added preset configuration files to Distiller, and Acrobat 5, in 2001, added improved color management.[3] Originally a separate application, Distiller eventually became incorporated into a printer driver for creating PDF files that preserved the printed appearance of documents from other applications.[4]
A related Adobe product, Acrobat Distiller Server was released in 2000 and provided the ability to perform high-volume conversion of PostScript to PDF formats through a centralized client-server architecture.[5] In 2013, Distiller Server was discontinued in favor of the PDF Generator component of Adobe LiveCycle.[6]
The primary application for PDF generation is Adobe Systems' Acrobat Distiller, the heart of the $249 Acrobat product family.
Key to this, though usually working in the background behind the convenient Adobe PDF print driver, is Acrobat Distiller. It's this essential utility that takes a PostScript-based print-to-disk file from any application and converts it to PDF as an exact electronic replica.