Advanced Function Presentation
| Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) | |
|---|---|
| File extension : |
.afp
|
| Developed by: | AFP Consortium |
| Standard (s) : | AFPC-0004-08 (PDF; 2.3 MB) |
Advanced Function Presentation ( AFP abbreviation ) is a format for the print data stream in the context of the production of mass print pieces. The abbreviation AFP is also used by IBM as an abbreviation for "Advanced Function Printing". From 1995 it was renamed “Advanced Function Presentation”.
The print data are converted to IPDS by a printer driver program (IBM PSF print services facility or IPM info print manager) . IPDS stands for “Intelligent Printer Data Stream” (see Raster Image Processor ). An AFP viewer is required for the screen display. An AFP data stream (AFPDS) consists of composite documents (MO: DCA mixed object document content architecture) with text, graphic content, fonts and barcodes.
IPDS is a bidirectional data stream that controls the machine, particularly interesting for logging pages that have already been printed (e.g. for large orders with continuous pages). IPDS is the protocol that is used between the printer driver program (PSF or IPM) and the printer.
AFP is a registered trademark of IBM.