The Mars Project is Adobe Systems' answer to Microsoft's XPS (XML Paper Specification) that is positioned on the market as a direct competitor to PDF (Portable Document Format) and PostScript. Via the Mars project, currently in Beta stage, Adobe is delivering an "XML-centric representation of PDF documents."

Mars documents will make use of XML and ZIP packaging but will additionally rely on applicable image and font standards in order to render the contents. Currently, Adobe's Mars is a codename describing the company's efforts to create an XML implementation of PDF syntax. And because Mars is the codename for the document format, the file's suffix is ".mars."

"Already an open specification, PDF is the global standard for trusted, high fidelity electronic documentation. The Mars file format incorporates additional industry standards such as SVG, PNG, JPG, JPG2000, OpenType, Xpath and XML into ZIP-based document container," revealed Adobe.

The company has also made available a plug-in designed for integration with Adobe Acrobat 8 and Adobe Reader 8. Via this pug-in, users will be able to save PDF documents in the Mars format, but also to open and view Mars documents.

"Keep in mind that this is an early build and not all feature and performance tuning work is complete. You should be able to get a good idea of what is possible and how it all works. Try creating a few Mars files, open them with your favorite ZIP tool and look inside," added Adobe.

Adobe explained that the company's efforts for delivering an XML implementation of PDF syntax through the Mars format aim to improve data extraction and integration along with metadata access, plus "document generation from a database or enterprise application and standardized document assembly and simplified document analysis and verification."

The Mars plug-in for Adober Acrobat 8 is available for download here.