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The PDF Association celebrates its members’ public statements
of support
for ISO-standardized PDF technology.

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Twenty Years of Trust: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of PDF/A-1

November 2025 by PDF Association staff

This month the PDF industry is celebrating the 20th anniversary of PDF/A-1 (ISO 19005-1:2005), the publication of which revolutionized digital preservation.

Before this standard, archiving suffered from dependency issues. PDF/A-1, based on a constrained subset of PDF 1.4, mandated self-contained, device-independent documents. These rules ensure that a PDF/A document’s appearance can be reliably maintained over centuries, regardless of viewing software.

Rapidly adopted globally, the principles established in PDF/A-1 persist in later standards like PDF/A-4, which is based on PDF 2.0, the latest ISO standard for PDF.

Happy 20th, PDF/A! We (ok, not us personally) fully expect to be celebrating your 200th anniversary in November 2225!

This month the PDF industry is celebrating the 20th anniversary of PDF/A-1 (ISO 19005-1:2005), the publication of which revolutionized digital preservation.

Before this standard, archiving suffered from dependency issues. PDF/A-1, based on a constrained subset of PDF 1.4, mandated self-contained, device-independent documents. These rules ensure that a PDF/A document’s appearance can be reliably maintained over centuries, regardless of viewing software.

Rapidly adopted globally, the principles established in PDF/A-1 persist in later standards like PDF/A-4, which is based on PDF 2.0, the latest ISO standard for PDF.

Happy 20th, PDF/A! We (ok, not us personally) fully expect to be celebrating your 200th anniversary in November 2225!

Is the role of encryption key for information governance?

February 2022 by Is the role of encryption key for information governance?
Article


It is essential to understand that with long term storage secure formats does not in themselves prevent user error or data corruption.

Computer storage devices and a shield.
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January 2022 by Carsten Luedtge (Compart GmbH)
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In fact, it’s about up-valuing content and documents to intelligent information media. In the final analysis, data is the raw … Read more

Article

January 2022 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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PDF Association’s CTO, Peter Wyatt discusses text strings in PDF.

Article

November 2021 by Carsten Luedtge (Compart GmbH)
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Key performance indicator (KPI) systems must also be strictly oriented to the strategic corporate goals in document and output management … Read more

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November 2021 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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PDF Association CTO Peter Wyatt explains the transparent imaging model in PDF and recounts its significance since Adobe introduced this … Read more

Article

November 2021 by PDF Association staff
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Almost every email client can save email messages as PDF files, but none do so in a manner that retains … Read more

Article

November 2021 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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This freely-available PDF file includes 8 test cases that only render correctly if the abbreviated key name is used. If … Read more

Article

October 2021 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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PDF issues has been redesigned based on industry feedback: all resolved errata are now published via https://pdf-issues.pdfa.org.

Article

October 2021 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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Dietrich von Seggern from callas software explains why companies should not leave the generation of PDF/A to their staff, but … Read more

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October 2021 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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On World Standards Day 2021 the PDF Association celebrates PDF’s connection to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Article

October 2021 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
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As a consumer of standards, have you ever stopped and critically reviewed what a standard essentially is and how it … Read more

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