Input file
MXD
- Full Name: ArcGIS Map Document Format
- Developer: ESRI
Output file
- Full Name: Adobe Portable Document Format
- Developer: Adobe Systems
What is MXD file?
MXD stands for Maps (*.MXD) document files, which are created with ArcGIS, a geographical information system (GIS) developed by Esri. These files are used to store data, which can be used to map out and analyze geographic locations and information. This type of file can store layers, images, web maps, metadata, and layout information; layers can include vector data such as points, lines, polygons, and raster data such as images. An MXD file can be edited using the ArcMap software. [ ⏩ ] MXD file extension
What is PDF file?
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file format that can represent documents of any text, graphics, images and links in a manner independent of any application software, hardware, and operating system. It was created by Adobe Systems using its own PDL (Page Description Language). PDF utilizes modern encryption and compression algorithms in order to store the content of a document and provide multi-functional features such as textual annotations, text search, audio annotations etc. [ ⏩ ] PDF file extension
Software, that you can use to convert
How to convert the file from MXD to PDF?
To successfully convert the MXD file to PDF, you should install one of the applications from the list. After installing the software, open the program and select the file you want to convert (file-name.MXD). The next step is to select the target format from the list, in this case PDF (usually converters allow you to convert to several different formats, so check out their features - maybe one of the available formats will suit you more than PDF).
What is a file conversion?
A data conversion is normally an automated process to some extent. The effect of the operation of one program is automatically the input product of another application. If that does not happen we need to help the process a little bit and convert the file on our own, e.g. MXD to PDF. To obtain a matched structure of the data, it is necessary to use an appropriate converter.
Program for converting MXD files to PDF files is a kind of a "binary code translator" compensating for the differences in the code or translating it in such a way so that another application could use it. For us, as users, the visible change will be only another file extension. (After converting the file, it will be the extension PDF, while before this step we had the MXD file). For the programs, the difference is on a much higher level – either the application will be able to open a new PDF file, or not.