PDF Archival Format (PDF/A)

Convert PDF Files to the Archival PDF/A Format

pdfRest's Convert to PDF/A API empowers you to convert standard PDF files to the PDF/A archival format, ensuring their long-term preservation and compatibility.

Validate PDF/A Conformance

Leverage pdfRest's Query PDF API to assess the PDF/A conformance of your documents. By identifying non-conformant PDFs, you can take proactive steps to convert them to the appropriate PDF/A standard.

Key PDF/A Benefits

• Identify non-compliant PDFs: Pinpoint documents that require conversion to PDF/A.
• Ensure long-term preservation: Protect your valuable data from obsolescence and data loss.
• Maintain compatibility: Ensure your PDFs can be viewed and processed reliably in the future.
• Meet industry standards: Comply with regulations and requirements that mandate PDF/A usage.

Supported PDF/A Standards

pdfRest supports a wide range of PDF/A standards, including:

• PDF/A-1b: Ensures basic visual integrity over the long term. It's the most widely accepted version for simple archival needs, guaranteeing that documents will look the same when accessed in the future.
• PDF/A-2b: Supports more modern features like JPEG2000 compression and transparency, making it suitable for documents that require better image quality and more complex visual elements while maintaining compliance with archival standards.
• PDF/A-2u: Includes Unicode support for enhanced text searchability and accessibility, making it ideal for documents that need to be both visually consistent and easily searchable across different languages and character sets.
• PDF/A-3b: Allows embedding of additional file formats (e.g., XML, CSV) within the PDF, making it suitable for documents that need to include supplementary data files alongside the main document content.
• PDF/A-3u: Combines the benefits of PDF/A-3b with Unicode support, offering a comprehensive solution for archival documents that require both embedded files and enhanced text searchability and accessibility.

Use PDF/A-3 for Hybrid Electronic Invoices

ZUGFeRD and Factur-X electronic invoices use PDF/A-3 to combine a visual invoice PDF with embedded, machine-readable invoice XML. The Create ZUGFeRD PDF API Tool creates this specific type of hybrid PDF/A-3 invoice from canonical XML and a visual PDF, giving billing and procurement workflows one document that can be read by people and processed by systems.

This is distinct from converting an existing PDF to PDF/A for a general archival workflow. Use Create ZUGFeRD PDF when the goal is a hybrid electronic invoice; use Convert to PDF/A when an existing PDF needs conversion to an archival PDF/A profile.

Safeguard your PDFs for the future with pdfRest's PDF/A compliance tools.