Adobe Systems Inc. on Monday said it would release the specification for its proprietary format for digital documents to an industry group with an eye to making it an international standard.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company said its Portable Document Format (PDF) will be released to AIIM, the Enterprise Content Management Association, to be published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Adobe has long touted PDF documents as an ideal platform-independent way to precisely and securely define their attributes and formatting.

"By releasing the full PDF specification for ISO standardization, we are reinforcing our commitment to openness," said Kevin Lynch, a senior vice-president and chief software architect at Adobe.

The company will release the full PDF 1.7 specification as defined in Adobe's PDF reference manual.