Why are .pdf files so commonly used (what makes it a good file type)?

Question

Why are .pdf files so commonly used (what makes it a good file type)?

Answer 1

.pdf files are extremely useful for viewing large text files, because they do not take up a lot of space in your hard drive.  In fact, the next time you write an essay, convert it to a .pdf file (if you have the resources) and take a look at the difference in their file size.  PDF files are great because they do not take a long time to load and are just as easy to view as .txt.

Answer 2

the main benefit is because if I want to send you a form or document for example that I created in Word, you don't have to own Word to open it.  That's the beauty of PDF files.  All you need to view/print it is the free reader program.  Doesn't matter what program it was created from to start with

Answer 3

pdf files are great they are very similar to books