Printer Command Language

The Printer Command Language (often shortened to PCL) is a page description language, developed by Hewlett-Packard. As of 2011, most modern printers understand PCL. Its complexity is between pure ASCII text, such as in ESC-P, and for example Postscript. There are different versions of the language. Common versions:
Except where stated, PCL versions are downwards compatible. A printer that supports PCL6 can also be programmed using PCL3, for example. 
PCL is a very efficient way of coding. For this reason, certain manufacturers build high-volume printers that support different versions of PCL. Such printers can do more than 1000 pages per minute.