PDF Association logo

Discover pdfa.org

Key resources

Get involved

How do you find the right PDF technology vendor?
Use the Solution Agent to ask the entire PDF communuity!
The PDF Association celebrates its members’ public statements
of support
for ISO-standardized PDF technology.

Member Area

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!

PDF and Digital Signatures

September 2020 by Bernd Wild (intarsys GmbH)
Article


The history of integration of digital signatures in PDF together with the underlying public standards like PAdES, CAdES and XAdES is described. The problematic extensions for workflow support are also … Read more

Photo of Dr. Bernd Wild
Visit Bernd Wild's profile.

September 2020 by Paul Rayius (CommonLook)
Paul Rayius
Visit Paul Rayius‘s profile.

While testing and verification is never a bad idea, the advantages of automation include speeding up processes and removing human … Read more

Article

September 2020 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
Visit Peter Wyatt‘s profile.

Interoperability is the core value proposition of the PDF file format. Although interoperability comes from sharing a clear and precise … Read more

Article

September 2020 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Visit Dietrich von Seggern‘s profile.

Dietrich von Seggern talks about an example in which the internet community came up with a smart solution for a … Read more

Article

August 2020 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Visit Dietrich von Seggern‘s profile.

Ensuring maximum success in RPA processes requires uniformity (standardization) in inputs. That’s where PDF can help.

Article

April 2020 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
Visit Peter Wyatt‘s profile.

Although less than a year into the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-funded Safe Documents (SafeDocs) fundamental research program, from … Read more

Article

March 2020 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
Visit Duff Johnson‘s profile.

A new resource collating all ISO groups and currently active work items related to PDF has been developed. Based on … Read more

Article

March 2020 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Visit Dietrich von Seggern‘s profile.

More and more, magazines are available on tablets or other mobile platforms. The subscriber uses the respective app to view … Read more

Article

March 2020 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
Visit Peter Wyatt‘s profile.

Now available from ISO: the Draft International Standard (DIS) version of the latest ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0) standard is ready … Read more

Article, News

March 2020 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
Visit Peter Wyatt‘s profile.

Ailing economies around the world need every advantage in these difficult times. On the other side of today’s crisis a … Read more

Article

March 2020 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

The Signal, a Library of Congress blog, has a new post about archiving with PDF by the Library of Congress’ … Read more

Article

Member News

WordPress Cookie Notice by Real Cookie Banner