ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization, which is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies. The ISO consists of members from each member company. Its mission is to promote the development of international standardization and related activities. ISO's work results in international agreements that are published as International Standards, such as the ISO 9000 series. It has also published over 10,000 other standards, including many product standards and ISO 14001 series of environmental standards. ISO carries out its work through approximately 2,900 technical bodies, including almost 200 technical committees (TCs) that draft standards. More than 30,000 experts from all parts of the world participate each year in its technical work.

For example, ISO has developed the standard used worldwide for film speed (look at a box of 35mm film and you are likely to see ISO 100, ISO 200 or ISO 400).