Questions tagged [ghostscript]

Ghostscript is software which converts and processes different graphic formats:

• Inputs: it can read in Portable Document Format (PDF), PostScript (PS) and Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)
• Outputs: it can output PDF, PS, EPS and many graphic and raster image formats such as TIFF, JPEG, PNG, PNM, PPM, PCL.

Ghostscript's executables are frequently named...

• ...gs (on Linux, Unix and Mac), and gswin32c.exe or gswin64c.exe for commandline-only interface,
• ...gsx (on Linux, Unix and Mac), and gswin32.exe or gswin64.exe for the interface that also pops up a window with the rendered file.

The GhostPDL "extension" to Ghostscript can additionally process the Extensible Paper Specification (XPS), and Hewlett Packard's PCL and convert these to most of the above mentioned output formats.

The commandline tools of the GhostPDL extension are named...

• ...pcl6 for PCL input,
• ...gxps for XPS input,

Ghostscript can also be described as a PostScript interpreter and as a PDF interpreter as well as a PDF distiller. As such it aims to be as compatible as possible with Adobe Systems' PostScript interpreter and Acrobat Distiller products. That means you can ask Ghostscript to process (most of) the same setdistillerparams as are documented by Adobe.