PS (PostScript)
Also known as: .ps file, PostScript file, Adobe PostScript
PostScript (.ps) is a page-description language from Adobe that tells a printer or renderer exactly how to draw each page — text, vector graphics, and images. PDF evolved from PostScript and has largely replaced it for everyday documents.
- Adobe page-description language for printing
- PDF evolved from and largely replaced it
- Open or convert with Ghostscript / ps2pdf
What PostScript does
PostScript is actually a programming language: a .ps file is a program that, when executed by a printer or interpreter, draws the page. It was the foundation of desktop publishing and is still spoken by many professional printers.
PDF grew directly out of PostScript, keeping its drawing model but adding fixed page structure, compression, and random access. For sharing and viewing, PDF won; PostScript now lives mostly in print pipelines.
Opening and converting PS
Viewers based on Ghostscript open .ps files, and ps2pdf converts them to PDF. On many systems printing a PostScript file is straightforward, since printers understand it natively.
PS files vary in size with their content but are usually modest. Convert to PDF when you need something portable and easy to view rather than print.