The Co-operation for the Integration of the Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress is an internationally recognised not for profit organisation. It grew out of the Cip3 organisation, responsible for the PPF (Print Production Format), when it took over responsibility for managing the development of JDF in 2000.

Job Definition Format. A job ticketing system, based upon open standards, which grew out of the PJTF and PPF formats. It also defines a print workflow, and the interface between different elements of that workflow.

Job Messaging Format. Used to return feedback from within a JDF enabled system, such as the name of an operator and the time tacken for the process, which can be used by an MIS, or the status of equipment, such as the platesetter having run out of plates.

Interoperability Conformance Format. A set of rules that define how systems from different vendors can work together without the need for specialised integration.

Portable Document Format. A page discription format, developed by Adobe and based on a subset of PostScript.

Portable Job Ticket Format. A job ticket format developed by Adobe for PDF workflows, describing a print job and the process required for its production. This replaces some of the information present in a PostScript file that is not included in the pDF format

Print Production Format. This format was developed by Cip3 to carry production information such as ink key settings and some postpress operations.

eXtensible Mark-up Language. An open standard computer language that can be used to write an infinite variety of computer languages, with characteristics specific to different industries, by describing the basic structure for those languages.