File extension
.ps
PostScript Language File Transmission (PSFT) Specification Version 1.0 (Acrobat)
.ps files are PostScript documents: a device-independent page description language from Adobe that is also a full programming language, historically the standard for driving printers and typesetting pages.
Known meanings
Formats and reference material for .ps
PostScript Language File Transmission (PSFT) Specification Version 1.0 (Acrobat)
PostScript Language File Transmission (PSFT) Specification Version 1.0 (Acrobat)
PostScript Language Reference, Third Edition (Acrobat: 7.4 MB / 912 pages)
PostScript Language Reference, Third Edition (Acrobat: 7.4 MB / 912 pages)
Details
Format notes
PostScript (PS)
PostScript is a page description language created by Adobe that became the standard
way to describe printed pages independently of any specific output device. A .ps
file is not a static bitmap but a program: it contains instructions, executed by a
PostScript interpreter (in a printer or in software such as Ghostscript), that draw
text, vector graphics, and images onto a page. Because it is device-independent,
the same file can print at a laser printer’s resolution or an imagesetter’s,
scaling cleanly.
PostScript is a full, stack-based programming language with variables, procedures,
and control flow, which makes it extremely flexible — a document can compute its
own layout — but also complex to process. Files typically begin with %!PS-Adobe
and follow the Document Structuring Conventions so tools can navigate pages and
resources. Fonts, in Type 1 and later formats, are a core part of the ecosystem.
PostScript And PDF
PDF grew out of PostScript, keeping its imaging model but removing the general
programmability in favor of a fixed, page-oriented structure that is safer and
faster to render. As a result PDF has replaced PostScript for document interchange,
while PostScript persists in print production and as the language many printers
still accept. The media type is application/postscript.
Security Notes
Because PostScript can execute arbitrary logic and includes file and device
operators, rendering untrusted .ps files is genuinely risky and has been the
basis of real exploits. Process untrusted PostScript only in a sandboxed
interpreter with file and system operators disabled, or convert it with a hardened
tool, rather than sending it directly to a device.
Further Reading
- PostScript Language Reference (Adobe):
https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/actionscript/articles/PLRM.pdf - Ghostscript:
https://www.ghostscript.com/