Some experimentation with creating a pdf with a 256x256 Mandelbrot set rendered by the viewer by using a tint transform. Viewers generally seems to reduce the precision to 8bpp before passing the data on to the tint transform, so it doesn't work

mandelbrot-pdf-256x256.py

#!/usr/bin python
pdf = """%PDF-1.4
1 0 obj 
<< /Type /Catalog 
 /Outlines 2 0 R 
 /Pages 3 0 R 
>> 
endobj 
 
2 0 obj 
<< /Type Outlines 
 /Count 0 
>> 
endobj 
 
3 0 obj 
<< /Type /Pages 
 /Kids [ 4 0 R ] 
 /Count 1 
>> 
endobj 
 
4 0 obj 
<<
	/Type /Page 
	/Parent 3 0 R 
	/MediaBox [ 0 0 {0} {0} ] 
	/Contents 5 0 R 
	/Resources <<
		/ProcSet 6 0 R
		/XObject <<
			/Im1 7 0 R >>
	>> 
>> 
endobj 

7 0 obj
<< /Type /XObject
/Subtype /Image
/Width {0}
/Height {0}
/ColorSpace [/Separation /Mandelbrot /DeviceGray 8 0 R]
/BitsPerComponent 16
/Length null
/Filter /ASCIIHexDecode >>
stream
{1}
endstream

5 0 obj 
<< /Length null >> %page content
stream 
q % Save graphics state 
	{0} 0 0 {0} 0 0 cm % Translate to (0,0) and scale by 132 
	/Im1 Do % Paint image 
Q % Restore graphics state 
endstream 
endobj 

8 0 obj 
 << /FunctionType 4 
 /Domain [ 0.0 1.0 ] 
 /Range [ 0.0 1.0 ] 
 /Length null 
>> 
stream 
{{
	65535 mul % scale input
	round
	dup % make a copy of the input
	% get upper nibble
	-8 bitshift % >> 4
	7.5 sub % -7.5 .. 7.5
	3.75 div % -2 .. 2
	
	exch % original (scaled) input to top of stack
	% get lower nibble
	256 mod % "and" is broken in sumatra...
	7.5 sub
	3.75 div % -2 .. 2
	
	% Stack: Re, Im
	2 copy % c: (Re, Im), z:(Re, Im)
	0 1 eq
	
	% ITERATION START
	% stack : stop, Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
	{2}

	{{1}} {{0}} ifelse
}} 
endstream 
endobj
 
6 0 obj %procset
[ /PDF ] 
endobj 
 
trailer 
<< /Size 7 
 /Root 1 0 R 
>> 
%%EOF
"""
mandelCode = """
	{1 1 eq} {
		% Calculate: z^2 + c: (Re(z)^2 - Im(z)^2 + Re(c), 2*Re*Im + Im(c))
		dup dup mul % stack : Re^2, Re, Im, ...
		2 index % stack: Im, Re^2, Re, Im, ...
		dup mul % stack: Im^2, Re^2, Re, Im, ...
		sub %stack: Re^2 - Im^2, Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		
		3 index % stack: Re(c), Re^2 - Im^2, Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		add % stack: Re^2 - Im^2 + Re(c), Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		3 1 roll % stack: Re, Im, Re^2 - Im^2 + Re(c), Re(c), Im(c)
		mul % stack: Re*Im, Re^2 - Im^2 + Re(c), Re(c), Im(c)
		2 mul % stack: 2*Re*Im, Re^2 - Im^2 + Re(c), Re(c), Im(c)
		3 index % stack: Im(c), 2*Re*Im, Re^2 - Im^2 + Re(c), Re(c), Im(c)
		add % stack: 2*Re*Im + Im(c), Re^2 - Im^2 + Re(c), Re(c), Im(c)
		exch % stack: Re^2 - Im^2 + Re(c), 2*Re*Im + Im(c), Re(c), Im(c)

		% stack: Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		% Check |z| >= 2: sqrt(Re^2 + Im^2) >= 2
		dup dup mul % stack: Re^2, Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		2 index % stack: Im, Re^2, Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		dup mul % stack: Im^2, Re^2, Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		add % stack: Im^2 + Re^2, Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		sqrt % stack: sqrt(Im^2 + Re^2), Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
		2 ge % stack: stop, Re, Im, Re(c), Im(c)
	} ifelse
"""

import sys
size = int(sys.argv[1])
iterations = int(sys.argv[2])

image = "\n".join(["".join(["%04X" % i for i in xrange(j*256, 256+j*256)]) for j in xrange(256)])
code = "".join([mandelCode for i in xrange(iterations)])


print pdf.format(size, image, code)