ISO/IEC TS 30135-7:2014

Information technology - Digital publishing - EPUB3 - Part 7: EPUB3 Fixed-Layout Documents

EPUB® documents, unlike print books or PDF files, are designed to change. The content flows, or reflows, to fit the screen and to fit the needs of the reader. The EPUB 3.0 Specification says that "content presentation should adapt to the user rather than the user having to adapt to a particular representation of content." But this principle doesn't work for all types of documents. Sometimes content and design are so intertwined they cannot be separated. Any change in appearance risks changing the meaning, or losing all meaning. Fixedlayout documents give content creators greater control over presentation, when a reflowable EPUB is not suitable for the content. This document, EPUB 3 Fixed-Layout Documents, defines a set of metadata properties to allow declarative expression of intended rendering behaviors of fixed-layout documents in the context of EPUB 3. It also defines mechanisms to express the intended rendering dimensions of fixed-layout XHTML and SVG [ContentDocs30] content, as well as bitmap images.

Technologies de l'information — Publications numériques — EPUB3 — Partie 7: Documents à mise en page fixe EPUB3

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 04-Nov-2014
• ICS: 35.240.30 - IT applications in information, documentation and publishing
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 - Document description and processing languages
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 - Document description and processing languages
• Current Stage: 9093 - International Standard confirmed
• Start Date: 22-Sep-2025
• Completion Date: 30-Oct-2025

Overview

ISO/IEC TS 30135-7:2014 - "EPUB3 Fixed-Layout Documents" - is a Technical Specification that defines how to describe and render fixed-layout content within EPUB 3 publications. Unlike reflowable EPUBs, fixed-layout (pre-paginated) EPUB content preserves exact page presentation so that layout and design remain intact. This TS standardizes metadata properties and mechanisms (for EPUB Package Documents, XHTML, SVG and bitmap images) so Reading Systems can consistently honor authors’ intended rendering behaviors.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Rendition metadata vocabulary: Properties are defined under the rendition vocabulary (mapped to http://www.idpf.org/vocab/rendition/#). Implementations must use the prefix mapping in the Package Document.
• layout control: rendition:layout - values reflowable | pre-paginated. When set to pre-paginated, Reading Systems must produce exactly one page for the spine item.
• orientation: rendition:orientation - values landscape | portrait | auto to express intended device orientation.
• synthetic spreads: rendition:spread - values none | landscape | portrait | both | auto to control two-page spread behavior.
• page placement: page-spread-left, page-spread-right and rendition:page-spread-center to force placement of content in synthetic spreads (center forces a single centered viewport).
• local overrides: Properties may be declared globally in metadata or locally on spine itemref elements. When on itemref, the syntax concatenates name and value with a hyphen (example: properties="rendition:layout-reflowable").
• content dimensions: Pre-paginated XHTML and SVG spine items must declare viewport/viewBox dimensions that define the CSS initial containing block (ICB) in CSS pixels. Example XHTML viewport: . Reading Systems must clip content to declared ICB dimensions.
• Implementation notes: The TS is informational and anticipates integration into future EPUB Publications and Content Documents specifications; Reading Systems should ignore conflicting proprietary metadata.

Applications and who uses this standard

• Publishers and ebook producers creating graphically rich, layout-sensitive works: children’s picture books, comics/graphic novels, art and photography books, textbooks, sheet music, and magazines.
• Reading system and device developers implementing EPUB 3 support to ensure correct rendering of fixed-layout titles, synthetic spreads, and orientation constraints.
• Digital designers and production specialists who need precise control of pagination, viewport dimensions, and presentation behavior across devices.
• Accessibility and QA teams verifying that pre-paginated content is clipped, paginated, and presented according to declared metadata.

Related standards

• EPUB 3.0 Publications and Content Documents specifications (Publications 3.0, ContentDocs30)
• ISO/IEC TS 30135 series (other EPUB 3 parts: Overview, Publications, Content Documents, Open Container Format, Media Overlay, Canonical Fragment Identifier)

Keywords: EPUB3 fixed-layout, rendition:layout, rendition:orientation, rendition:spread, viewport, viewBox, pre-paginated EPUB, ISO/IEC TS 30135-7, EPUB Package Document, spine itemref.

Standards Content (Sample)

TECHNICAL ISO/IEC
SPECIFICATION TS
30135-7
First edition
2014-11-15
Information technology — Digital
publishing — EPUB3 —
Part 7:
EPUB3 Fixed-Layout Documents
Technologies de l'information — Publications numériques — EPUB3 —
Partie 7: Documents à mise en page fixe EPUB3

Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2014
©  ISO/IEC 2014
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission.
Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
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Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO/IEC 2014 – All rights reserved

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
In other circumstances, particularly when there is an urgent market requirement for such documents, the joint
technical committee may decide to publish an ISO/IEC Technical Specification (ISO/IEC TS), which
represents an agreement between the members of the joint technical committee and is accepted for
publication if it is approved by 2/3 of the members of the committee casting a vote.
An ISO/IEC TS is reviewed after three years in order to decide whether it will be confirmed for a further three
years, revised to become an International Standard, or withdrawn. If the ISO/IEC TS is confirmed, it is
reviewed again after a further three years, at which time it must either be transformed into an International
Standard or be withdrawn.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/IEC TS 30135 series were prepared by Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (as KS X 6070
series) with International Digital Publishing Forum and were adopted, under a special “fast-track procedure”,
by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, in parallel with its approval by the
national bodies of ISO and IEC.
ISO/IEC TS 30135 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information technology — Document
description and processing languages — EPUB 3:
—  Part 1: Overview
—  Part 2: Publications
—  Part 3: Content Documents
—  Part 4: Open Container Format
—  Part 5: Media Overlay
—  Part 6: Canonical Fragment Identifier
—  Part 7: Fixed-Layout Documents

EPUB 3 Fixed-Layout Documents
INFORMATIONAL DOCUMENT
NOTE: It is anticipated that this document will be superseded by forthcoming updates to Publications 3.0
[Publications30] and Content Documents 3.0 [ContentDocs30] that will incorporate the metadata properties and
mechanisms separately defined herein.
THIS VERSION:
http://www.idpf.org/epub/fxl/epub-fxl-20120313.html
LATEST VERSION:
http://idpf.org/epub/fxl/
PREVIOUS VERSION:
http://www.idpf.org/epub/fxl/epub-fxl-20120308.html
All rights reserved. This w ork is protected under Title 17 of the United States Code. Reproduction and dissemination of this
w ork w ith changes is prohibited except w ith the w ritten permission of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF).
EPUB is a registered trademark of the International Digital Publishing Forum.
Editors
Markus Gylling (IDPF), Dave Cramer (Hachette)
Authors
Takeshi Kanai (Sony), Peter Sorotokin (Adobe), Roger Webster (Barnes & Noble), James Lester (Barnes &
Noble), Brady Kroupa (Barnes & Noble), Garth Conboy (Google), Brady Duga (Google), MURATA Makoto (JEPA),
Edward O’Connor (Apple), Luc Audrain (Hachette Livre), Hadrien Gardeur (Feedbooks)
Status of this Document
This is an IDPF Informational Document, produced by the IDPF EPUB working group and approved by the IDPF
board of directors as of March 13, 2012. It may be updated, replaced, or rendered obsolete by other documents
at any time.
Table of Contents
1. Purpose and Scope
2. Property Definitions
3. 1. The rendition:layout property
2. The rendition:orientation property
3. The rendition:spread property
4. The page-spread-* properties
4. Usage of rendition properties in the EPUB 3 Package Document
5. 1. Prefix Mapping
2. Specifying name-value pairs on the spine itemref element
6. Content dimensions
7. 1. Content dimensions for XHTML and SVG
2. 1. Expressing ICB dimensions in XHTML
2. Expressing ICB dimensions in SVG
3. Content dimensions for bitmap images
8. Appendix A. Examples
9. Appendix B. Mapping Tables
10. Appendix C. Note on the use of CSS absolute positioning in EPUB 3

›Purpose and Scope
EPUB® documents, unlike print books or PDF files, are designed to change. The content flows, or reflows, to fit
the screen and to fit the needs of the reader. The EPUB 3.0 Specification says that “content presentation should
adapt to the user rather than the user having to adapt to a particular representation of content.”
But this principle doesn’t work for all types of documents. Sometimes content and design are so intertwined
they cannot be separated. Any change in appearance risks changing the meaning, or losing all meaning. Fixed-
layout documents give content creators greater control over presentation, when a reflowable EPUB is not
suitable for the content.
This document, EPUB 3 Fixed-Layout Documents, defines a set of metadata properties to allow declarative
expression of intended rendering behaviors of fixed-layout documents in the context of EPUB 3. It also defines
mechanisms to express the intended rendering dimensions of fixed-layout XHTML and SVG [ContentDocs30]
content, as well as bitmap images.
NOTE
EPUB 3 affords multiple mechanisms for representing fixed-layout content in EPUB 3 documents. When
fixed-layout content is necessary, the author's choice of mechanism will depend on many factors
including desired degree of precision, file size, accessibility, etc. This document does not attempt to
dictate the author's choice of mechanism.
› Property Definitions
›The rendition:layout property
Name rendition:layout
Description
Specifies whether the given Publication or spine item is reflowable or pre-paginated.
Value
reflowable | pre-paginated
Package Document meta element
Usage
Package Document itemref element
In meta: reflowable
Initial
In itemref: inherited from meta
In metadata: zero or one
Cardinality
In itemref: zero or one
›Us age
When the rendition:layout property is specified on the Package Document meta element, it indicates that the
paginated or reflowable layout style (refer to Allowed values below) applies globally for the given Publication (i.e.
for all spine items).
As ‘reflowable’ is the initial value of this property in the meta usage context, this value must be assumed by
Reading Systems as the global value if no meta element carrying this property occurs in the Package Document
instance.
The rendition:layout property may also be specified locally on the Package Document spine itemref element,
and will, in this case, override the global value for the given spine item. (Refer to Specifying name-value pairs on
the spine itemref element for syntactical rules specific to local specification.)
›Allowed values
The following values are defined for use with the rendition:layout property:
reflowable
The given spine item is not pre-paginated. Reading Systems may apply dynamic pagination when
rendering this spine item.
pre-paginated
The given spine item is pre-paginated. Reading Systems must produce exactly one page when
rendering this spine item. (Refer to Content dimensions for rules regarding dimensional declarations.)
NOTE
Reading Systems typically restrict or deny the application of User or User Agent stylesheets to pre-
paginated documents, since as a result of intrinsic properties of such documents, dynamic style
changes are highly likely to have unintended consequences. Authors should take into account the
negative impact on usability and accessibility that these restrictions have when choosing to use pre-
paginated instead of reflowable content. Refer to Guideline 1.4 - Provide text configuration of the W3C
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines for related information.
›The rendition:orientation property
Name
rendition:orientation
Specifies which orientation(s) the Author intends for the given Publication or spine item to be
Description
rendered in.
Value landscape | portrait | auto
Package Document meta element
Usage
Package Document itemref element
In meta: auto
Initial
In itemref: inherited from meta

In metadata: zero or one
Cardinality
In itemref: zero or one
›Us age
When the rendition:orientation property is specified on the Package Document meta element, it indicates that
the intended orientation applies globally for the given Publication (i.e. for all spine items).
As ‘auto’ is the initial value of this property in the meta usage context, this value must be assumed by Reading
Systems as the global value if no meta element carrying this property occurs in the Package Document instance.
The rendition:orientation property may also be specified locally on the Package Document spine itemref
element, and will, in this case, override the global value for the given spine item. (Refer to Specifying name-
value pairs on the spine itemref element for syntactical rules specific to local specification.)
›Allowed values
The following values are defined for use with the rendition:orientation property:
landscape
The given spine item is intended for landscape rendering.
portrait
The given spine item is intended for portrait rendering.
auto
The given spine item is not orientation constrained.
Reading Systems that support multiple orientations should, unless the given value is 'auto', convey the intended
orientation to the user. The means by which the intent is conveyed is implementation-specific.
›
The rendition:spread property
Name rendition:spread
Specifies the intended Reading System synthetic spread behavior for this Publication or spine
Description
item.
Value
none | landscape | portrait | both | auto
Package Document meta element
Usage
Package Document itemref element
In meta: auto
Initial
In itemref: inherited from meta
In metadata: zero or one
Cardinality
In itemref: zero or one
›Us age
When the rendition:spread property is specified on the Package Document meta element, it indicates that the
intended synthetic spread behavior applies globally for the given Publication (i.e. for all spine items).
As ‘auto’ is the initial value of this property in the meta usage context, this value must be assumed by Reading
Systems as the global value if no meta element carrying this property occurs in the Package Document instance.
The rendition:spread property may also be specified locally on the Package Document spine itemref element,
and will, in this case, override the global value for the given spine item. (Refer to Specifying name-value pairs on
the spine itemref element for syntactical rules.)
›Allowed values
The following values are defined for use with the rendition:spread property, where synthetic spread is defined
as the rendering of two adjacent pages simultaneously on the device screen:
none
Reading Systems must not incorporate this spine item in a synthetic spread.
landscape
Reading Systems should incorporate this spine item in a synthetic spread only when the device is in
landscape orientation.
portrait
Reading Systems should incorporate this spine item in a synthetic spread only when the device is in
portrait orientation.
both
Reading Systems should incorporate this spine item in a synthetic spread regardless of device
orientation.
auto
No explicit synthetic spread behavior is defined. Reading Systems may use synthetic spreads in specific
or all device orientations as part of a display area utilization optimization process.
When synthetic spreads are used in the context of XHTML and SVG Content Documents, the dimensions given
via viewport/viewBox metadata represents the size of one page in the spread.
NOTE
Refer to 3.4.12 The spine Element for information about declaration of global flow directionality using the
page-progression-direction attribute and that of local page-progression-direction within content
documents.
Refer also to Issue 205 for discussions on forthcoming specifications of precedence rules for the page-
progression-direction attribute and the writing-mode and direction properties within XHTML Content
Documents.
›The page-spread-* properties
rendition:page-spread-center
Names
and, as defined in [Publications30]
page-spread-left and page-spread-right
Description Specifies the forced placement of a Content Document in a synthetic spread

Usage
Package Document spine itemref element
Cardinality Zero or one
When a Reading System is rendering synthetic spreads, the default behavior is to populate the spread, which
conceptually consists of two adjacent viewports, by rendering the next Content Document in the next available
unpopulated viewport, where the location of “next” is determin
...