IP Institute of Printing

Global Standards

Technical standards governing color exchange and process control.

PDF/X

ISO 15930 (PDF/X series)

Standards for the blind exchange of prepress data.

  • PDF/X-1a: Blind exchange in CMYK + Spot colors only. No transparency allowed (must be flattened).
  • PDF/X-4: Blind exchange allowing live transparency and ICC color management. The modern standard.
ISO
12647

ISO 12647-2 (Offset Lithography)

Specifies the process control parameters for halftone color separations, proofing, and production printing.

Defines solid colorimetric targets (CIE Lab), tone value increase (dot gain) curves, and acceptable tolerances (delta E) for different paper categories.