To provide an image forming apparatus having low design load and capable of performing efficient control according to the configuration of a plotting means for generating plotting information for carrying out image formation output.

The image forming apparatus includes a DL (display list) generating part 251 generating a display list from intermediate data obtained based on a PDL (page description language); a DL storage memory 252 storing the display list; a hardware plotting part 271 carrying out plotting processing based on the display list; a software plotting part 272; a hardware resource storage part 230 storing information of hardware configuration included in the image forming apparatus 1; and a module generating part 240 determining and operating an operation module based on the information of hardware configuration.