I think it's about citation. Traditionally, a pdf is a complete and finished work, analogous to a published journal article or book. It is static content and will not change, unlike HTML which might be "under construction".
This isn't necessarily still true: HTML content can stay up on the web forever and a pdf can change, but people still prefer to cite something that looks like a paper document.
Since a whitepaper is often meant to be cited, it's published as a pdf to take advantage of this preference.
This isn't necessarily still true: HTML content can stay up on the web forever and a pdf can change, but people still prefer to cite something that looks like a paper document.
Since a whitepaper is often meant to be cited, it's published as a pdf to take advantage of this preference.
The best approach is to publish a PDF for citation along with a public HTML demo, like https://jonbarron.info/mipnerf360/