Why convert PDF to PS?
PostScript is the page-description language that PDF was designed to supersede. Some older RIP workflows, print servers, and industrial printing equipment still require .PS files. PostScript is also used as an intermediate format in Ghostscript-based conversion pipelines.
How to convert PDF to PS
Ghostscript FREE
Run gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=ps2write -sOutputFile=output.ps input.pdf to produce a PostScript file. On Windows the executable may be named gswin64c.exe.
Adobe Acrobat APP
Open the PDF, go to File > Print, and use the Print to File option with PostScript output. The Save As > PostScript route was removed in newer versions; the Print dialog is the reliable path.
Programs that convert PDF
About these formats
.PDF
Portable Document Format
A PDF (Portable Document Format) is a fixed-layout document that looks identical on every device - fonts, images, and layout are all embedded. Open it in any browser or the built-in viewer…
Open .PDF details →
.PS
PostScript (page-description program)
A PS file is a PostScript document - a text program that a printer or viewer renders into pages of text and vector graphics. To view one, install Ghostscript and open it in GSview or…
Open .PS details →Quality & what to watch
- PDF-specific features - interactive forms, annotations, digital signatures, JavaScript, and encryption - are not preserved and are silently dropped in the PostScript output.
- Ghostscript's
ps2writedevice produces Level 2 PostScript by default; if your print device requires Level 3, use-sDEVICE=ps3writeinstead. - PostScript files are typically larger than equivalent PDFs because PostScript stores drawing commands in verbose text form rather than PDF's compact binary structure.
