[Misc] Differences Between the PCL5e, PCL5c, and PCL6 Printer Command Languages

[teckat]

Differences Between the PCL5e, PCL5c, and PCL6 Printer Command Languages

PCL commands are compact escape sequence codes that are embedded in a print job before being sent to a printer. PCL (Printer Control Language) is designed to provide an efficient way to control printer features across many different printing devices. PCL was created and developed by Hewlett Packard (HP).
There are several major levels of PCL. The creation of these levels was driven by the combination of printer technology developments, changing user needs and application software improvements.

For more information on the history of PCL and the differences between the major PCL levels, please see HP's website (click the link below).

HP Color LaserJet and LaserJet Series Printers - History of Printer Command Language (PCL) - bpl04568 - HP Business Support Center

[Fer]

Re: Differences Between the PCL5e, PCL5c, and PCL6 Printer Command Languages

PCL5e: Fast and efficient language for black and white printers
PCL5c: Slow rendering, huge spoolfiles and mediocre colours. Not my favourite.

PCL6: Much better then pcl5c, slower and bigger files than pcl5e. Sometimes incompatibilty problems with older applications. To bad there is cmyk support, but maybe thats a windows problem.