Ghostscript is an open source processor, interpreter and converter for the PostScript language, as well as for the Portable Document Format (PDF). Also known as AFPL Ghostscript, the project can rasterize PostScript files for a wide range of printers, screen preview, image file formats, and other devices.
Features at a glance
Key features include the ability to convert files written in the PostScript language to various other raster formats, allows users to print PostScript (PS) documents on printers that don’t feature support for PostScript printing, view PostScript file on displays, convert PDF files to a wide range of file formats, a PostScript to PDF convert, as well as a PDF to PostScript converter.
What’s in the package?
Ghostscript is comprised of a various components, including a PostScript interpreter, a PDF interpreter, an utility that converts PostScript files to PDF ones and vice versa, as well as a Ghostscript library, which implements filtering and graphics capabilities. The independent JPEG Group (IJG) library, the zlib library and the PNG library are used in the Ghostscript package.
Under the hood and supported OSes
The program is written entirely in the C programming language and can only be used from a console environment. It is a cross-platform software that supports all GNU/Linux operating systems, as well as the commercial Microsoft Windows OS. It is available for download as source and binary archives, supporting 32-bit and 64-bit hardware platforms, but can be easily installed from the default software repositories of many Linux distributions.
