A positive-working recording material is disclosed that has an aluminum base and a mat-finished radiation-sensitive layer that contains a 1,2-naphthoquinone-2-diazide as radiation-sensitive compound and a binder which is insoluble in water but soluble or swellable in aqueous alkali. The radiation-sensitive 1,2-naphthoquinone-2-diazide is an ester of 1,2-naphthoquinone-2-diazide-4- or -5-sulfonic acid and a phenolic compound that contains at least 2, preferably at least 3, phenolic hydroxyl groups, which ester has a phenolic hydroxyl group content of at least 0.5 mmol/g and a diazo unit content of at least 1.5 mmol/g. The binder is a phenol/formaldehyde novolak that contains at least 5 mmol/g phenolic hydroxyl groups, the phenol component of which contains at least 30 mol percent m-cresol and at least 10 mol percent of at least one xylenol and which has a weight-average M.sub.w of 2,000 to 12,000 (determined by means of GPC with polystyrene as standard). The radiation-sensitive layer additionally contains at least one phenolic additive which has a molecular weight M.sub.w of not more than 600 and contains 2 to 4 uncondensed phenyl nuclei and at least 6 mmol/g phenolic hydroxyl groups.