What file format was developed by Adobe to serve a similar functionality and existed decades before XPS?

The Portable Document Format (PDF) was developed by Adobe in the early 1990s to allow documents to be presented in a consistent format across different computing environments, ensuring that the layout, fonts, graphics, and overall formatting remain unchanged regardless of the platform used to view it. PDF became widely adopted for both print and digital documents, making it highly versatile for sharing information.

In contrast to XPS, which was introduced by Microsoft as a new document format to promote the functionality of electronic document management, PDF had already established a robust ecosystem, including numerous tools for creating, viewing, and editing documents. Moreover, PDF files can include rich media elements, annotations, and security features, further enhancing their usability.

While PostScript is a page description language also created by Adobe that serves as a precursor to PDF, it is primarily focused on print production rather than document sharing as PDFs do. Printer Control Language (PCL) serves a different purpose in printer communications, and XPS, while similar in some ways to PDF, came much later and did not gain as widespread adoption.