WWF (file format)
Campaign to produce PDF electronic documents that forbid printing
title: "WWF (file format)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["graphics-file-formats", "open-formats", "page-description-languages", "vector-graphics", "computer-file-formats", "digital-press", "environment-and-society"] description: "Campaign to produce PDF electronic documents that forbid printing" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWF_(file_format)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Campaign to produce PDF electronic documents that forbid printing ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox file format"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | WWF |
| icon | WWF_File_Logo.jpg |
| caption | The official WWF file format icon. |
| extension | |
| extended from | |
| :: |
| name = WWF | icon = WWF_File_Logo.jpg | screenshot = | caption = The official WWF file format icon. | extension = | mime = | type code = | uniform type = | magic = | owner = | genre = | container for = | contained by = | extended from = PDF | extended to = | standard =
WWF is a modification of the open standard PDF format for document exchange endorsed by the World Wide Fund for Nature (also abbreviated WWF) Germany. The WWF format is promoted as being more environmentally friendly than other comparable document exchange formats (e.g. PDF or DOC) since documents in this format are designed to be more difficult to print. The motivation behind the use of the format is to prevent unnecessary printing of documents. The website claims that the file format will be able to be read by most programs that can open ordinary PDF files.{{Cite web |title = WWF FAQs |publisher = WWF |url = http://www.saveaswwf.com/en/faqs.html |format = FAQ |accessdate = 13 December 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101204121018/http://www.saveaswwf.com/en/faqs.html |archive-date = 4 December 2010 |url-status = dead |df = dmy-all |title = A New Green File Format: WWF |publisher = WWF |url = http://www.saveaswwf.com/en/ |accessdate = 19 December 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101223010812/http://www.saveaswwf.com/en/ |archive-date = 23 December 2010 |url-status = dead |df = dmy-all | title = .wwf toolkit | publisher = Freshmeat | date = | url = http://freshmeat.net/projects/wwf-toolkit | format = | accessdate = 30 March 2011}}
Technical details
WWF files are simply PDF files with the security settings for printing set to "not allowed", and the file extension ".wwf". Thus, the inability to print the files comes from the DRM built into Adobe Reader, which looks at a flag in the PDF to see whether printing is allowed. Other PDF readers, such as Ghostscript, may not honour the no-print flag, rendering WWF files printable by those readers.
Criticism
The initiative has been criticised for restricting users rights, being ineffective (as non-Adobe readers such as Ghostscript can print documents in the format), for violating the BSD license, for being incompatible with the goals of the free and open source software movement and for the software contacting the WWF without the user's consent. It was criticised by WWF International director of corporate relations Maria Boulos for being "misleading" and having been launched as "a global product" despite being created by the WWF's German division without consultation with WWF International.
References
References
- "WWF Germany's 'saveaswwf' PDF anti-printing campaign exposes internal rifts". printweek.com.
- (4 December 2010). "World Wildlife Fund WWF format cracked!". Hans Bezemer.
- "Create Adobe PDF Online: Security Settings Help". Adobe Systems.
- tracyanne. "Email sent by a member of the FOSS community to the WWF".
- April. "Letter sent by the April organization to the WWF".
- (13 December 2010). "Sourceforge Skim forum". Christiaan Hofman.
- (7 December 2010). "Facebook entry". Save as WWF.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::