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HTPBE?

Structural PDF tamper detection API. Catches edits your KYC stack misses.

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© 2024–2026 TMI Iurii Rogulia · VAT ID: FI29845875 · Made in Finland

Status

Algorithm v2.48.3

Tool profile

Crystal Reports

Crystal Reports appears on both unmodified and modified documents in our corpus. The name alone is never the verdict; each file is judged on its own structure.

Back to all statistics
Forensic verdict

Mixed signal

Based on this tool’s share of the HTPBE? corpus.

Modification rate
44%-5pp below baseline
Corpus baseline: 49%
Corpus share
0.21%
Share of all analyzed appearances
Modification rate
44%
-5pp below baseline
Role split
56%C/44%P
Creator vs Producer share of appearances

Corpus profile

How Crystal Reports shows up in HTPBE? corpus

Crystal Reports is one of the PDF-handling tools surfaced in the HTPBE? corpus. Crystal Reports splits its occurrences between Creator (56%) and Producer (44%) roles, meaning it sometimes originates documents and sometimes re-emits them after another tool created them.

HTPBE? reads the Crystal Reports name as one input among many and weighs it together with the rest of the file’s structure – the tool itself is never the accusation.

On documents where Crystal Reports acts as Creator, 48% carry modification markers; on documents where it acts as Producer, 38% do. These are observed rates inside the HTPBE? corpus and should be read as base-rates, not as accusations against Crystal Reports or its users.

The signal
HTPBE? reads the Crystal Reports name as one input among many and weighs it together with the rest of the file’s structure – the tool itself is never the accusation.

Reading guide

How to read this page

Every PDF stores two software labels: the Creator, which names the application that first produced the document, and the Producer, which names the software that last wrote the file out. This page counts the files HTPBE? has analysed where Crystal Reports fills one of those labels, and shows how often those files carry modification markers, which PDF versions they use and which other tools sit next to them.

A tool name tells you where a file passed through, not whether anyone changed its content. A Creator and Producer that agree usually point to a single pass; a Producer that differs from the Creator means the file was written out again by another program, which has many ordinary explanations such as compression, merging or a print-to-PDF step.

Caveats

  • The figures cover 59 files. Larger than a handful, but still a sample of what was submitted, not of all PDFs in the world.
  • The statistics describe files HTPBE? analysed. They are not a judgement of the quality or trustworthiness of Crystal Reports.
  • Submitted files lean towards documents that someone wanted checked, so rates here can sit higher than in everyday document flows.
  • Metadata can be rewritten by anyone, so a producer name on its own is never treated as proof either way.
Read a PDF’s metadata for freeAll tool statisticsCreator vs Producer explainedPDF metadata fields referenceCheck PDFs through the API

Role in the workflow

How Crystal Reports shows up in metadata

Every PDF carries a Creator (the application that produced the original document) and a Producer (the engine that wrote the PDF). The same tool can appear in either slot, with very different modification profiles.

CAs Creator · 56%
As Producer · 44%P
CAs Creator
  • Share of appearances
    56%
  • Modification rate
    48%
  • Avg file size
    155 KB
PAs Producer
  • Share of appearances
    44%
  • Modification rate
    38%
  • Avg file size
    139 KB

How to read this

The Creator slot typically reflects where a document started life. The Producer slot reflects whatever wrote the final file, which is not always the same software.

A higher modification rate as Producer than as Creator usually means the tool is acting as a re-saver on documents that originated elsewhere. A higher rate as Creator points to fragile workflows around the original authoring app.

Name fingerprints

Also goes by

Different version strings and spellings observed for Crystal Reports in the wild. All are merged into the same canonical profile.

Crystal Reports55.9%
Powered By Crystal44.1%

Why variants matter

The same tool publishes itself under 2 different metadata strings – version bumps, locale tags, build IDs. We canonicalize them so the corpus reflects one identity, not noise.

Most common
Crystal Reports
55.9% of appearances
Variant spread
2 distinct strings
Long-tail share: 44.1%
Observed range
29.10.2025 → 09.11.2026

Distributions

What ships alongside Crystal Reports

The PDF versions Crystal Reports writes when acting as Producer, and the other tools that appear in the same documents.

PDF versions written

Most output is PDF 1.7 (71% of files where Crystal Reports is the Producer).

PDF 1.770.6%
PDF 1.229.4%

Common Producers when Crystal Reports is the Creator

macOS Print to PDF writes 12% of these files – read this row as ‘what these documents most often pass through on the way out’.

macOS Print to PDF12.1%
iOS Print to PDF3.0%
GPL Ghostscript3.0%
Powered By Business Objects3.0%

Related profiles

Tools you’ll see next to Crystal Reports

Other tools that frequently share metadata with Crystal Reports in the same documents. Each card links to its own forensic profile.

P7% co-occurrence
macOS Print to PDF
Corpus share3.4%
Mod rate62%
P2% co-occurrence
iOS Print to PDF
Corpus share1.8%
Mod rate60%
P2% co-occurrence
GPL Ghostscript
Corpus share0.25%
Mod rate43%
P2% co-occurrence
Powered By Business Objects
Corpus share<0.01%
Mod rate100%

Long tail

Notable observations

Smaller cuts of the Crystal Reports corpus – useful context, but treat each row as a single data point rather than a strong signal.

Digitally signed
2%

Of files carry at least one digital signature

Avg pages per document
2.3
Oldest observed
29.10.2025 — about 1 year ago

FAQ

Crystal Reports in PDF metadata: common questions

What is Crystal Reports?

Crystal Reports is a PDF-handling tool that writes its name into the Creator or Producer field of the PDFs it generates or re-saves.

Why does Crystal Reports appear in the metadata of a PDF?

A PDF can record the software that created it (Creator) and the software that last wrote the file out (Producer). When Crystal Reports generated the file, or re-saved it, it can leave its name in one of those fields. The field is filled in by software, not checked by anyone, so it is a hint about the file’s history rather than a guarantee.

Does Crystal Reports in the metadata mean the PDF was edited?

No. A producer name alone proves nothing about whether a document was changed. Many Crystal Reports files are original output, and a file that was edited can name any tool at all. What matters is the whole picture: how the file is built, how its dates and structure line up, and whether the Creator and Producer fit together.

How should I read the Crystal Reports statistics?

The figures describe the 59 files in the HTPBE? corpus that list Crystal Reports as Creator or Producer. The modification rate is the share of those files that carry modification markers. It is a base rate for this particular set of files, not a property of Crystal Reports and not a prediction for any single document.

Can I compare Crystal Reports with other tools using these numbers?

Only loosely. The corpus consists of PDFs people chose to submit for checking, which skews towards documents someone had a reason to doubt. A tool popular for legitimate bulk output can still show a high rate here, and a rarely seen tool can show an extreme rate from a handful of files. These pages are not a quality ranking of the tools themselves.

How do I check a PDF that lists Crystal Reports?

Upload it to HTPBE? for a modification check, or open it in the free PDF Metadata Viewer to see the Creator, Producer and dates stored in the file. The same check is available through the HTPBE? API.

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