Canon Printer Driver – How To Choose The Right One For Your Printer

What are Page Description Languages?

To understand why different machines need different drivers, first we need to understand what a page description language (PDL) is. A PDL is a programming code that instructs a digital print engine where and how to place text and graphics onto a page. We will then move onto choosing the right canon printer driver.

When you send a print job to a machine, the driver converts your print job into a language the business printer can understand. In order for this to work, your print device and driver must both use the same PDL. The key here is to use a driver that supports the PDL’s available to your print device.

Each printer manufacturer has its own preferred PDL. Canon’s proprietary languages are Ultra Fast Renderer 2 (UFR II) and GARO, other common PDL’s are PCL (HP) and Postscript (Adobe). Most Canon Multifunctional Printers understand UFR II and PCL straight out of the box. You will normally require a license for Postscript printing.