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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!

Duff Johnson receives AIIM Standards Award

May 2016 by PDF Association staff
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The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) has awarded its Thomas Bagg Standards Award to Duff Johnson.

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April 2016 by PDF Association staff
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Matt Kuznicki, Chief Technical Officer at Datalogics, tells us about his plans for the PDF Days Europe 2016 conference in … Read more

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April 2016 by PDF Association staff
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iText creator Bruno Lowagie tells us about his plans for the PDF Days Europe 2016 conference in Berlin.

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April 2016 by PDF Association staff
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For ECM professionals, PDF deserves your attention to maximize utility… and minimize risk.

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April 2016 by PDF Association staff
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As in previous years, the PDF Days Europe will act as a link between users and developers.

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April 2016 by PDF Association staff
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The scale of this year’s PDF Days Europe event allows us to focus on several distinct areas of interest.

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March 2016 by PDF Association staff
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The ISO standard for accessible PDF files costs 88 Swiss Francs. As of March 25 it’s also available from AIIM … Read more

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March 2016 by PDF Association staff
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June is the best time of the year to visit Berlin. The air is sweet, the trees are in bloom … Read more

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March 2016 by PDF Association staff
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This year, the successful PDF Days Europe will be held in Berlin. Across two days, you’ll be able to choose … Read more

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March 2016 by PDF Association staff
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This year, the established and popular PDF Days Europe will be held on June 14 and 15, 2016, in the … Read more

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February 2016 by PDF Association staff
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The new Chairman of the PDF/E Competence Center discusses the origin of the new organization in support of engineering applications … Read more

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