This invention is directed to a method and apparatus for raster image processing which allows access to the page buffer during raster image processing. The method and apparatus of the present invention allow for virtually every page presented to the raster image processor to be printed with available memory. In addition, the method and apparatus for raster image processing of the present invention significantly reduces the bandwidth required between the raster image processor and the raster image processor manager. In addition, the method and apparatus for raster image processing of the present invention has equal or better performance than those methods or apparatuses that use display lists. Further, the method and apparatus of the present invention support the use of tag data and multiple page description languages.