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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!

What’s unique about PDF?

October 2015 by PDF Association staff
Article


Taken together, PDF’s features describe a format of such flexibility and power that it will define the essential “electronic document” concept forever.

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September 2015 by PDF Association staff
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Most browsers now support some basic PDF features natively. What’s next for PDF on the web?

Article

September 2015 by PDF Association staff
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Platform technologies provide the infrastructure for the applications end users actually use, whether some kind of cloud or simply leveraging … Read more

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August 2015 by PDF Association staff
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PDF Technical Conference 2015: With over 40 presentations and podium discussions, conference attendees will benefit from intensive technical education on … Read more

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July 2015 by PDF Association staff
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This article highlights three areas in which PDF can help developers offer powerful new options to their product and project … Read more

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July 2015 by PDF Association staff
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You missed the PDF Days Europe 2015? Never mind! Overview of the video recordings of the PDF Days Europe 2015

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July 2015 by PDF Association staff
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How search engine and other application developers can enhance their PDF-related functionality by fully supporting ISO 32000, the ISO specification … Read more

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June 2015 by PDF Association staff
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A brief introduction to PDF 2.0, the first major revision of the PDF specification since 2006.

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June 2015 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Technical Conference 2015 is a unique opportunity to learn about the diverse capabilities and ecosystem of the ISO … Read more

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June 2015 by PDF Association staff
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What is PDF/A? What does PDF/A offer, and how can I access that value? Answers to these and other questions … Read more

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June 2015 by PDF Association staff
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2015’s PDF Days Europe in Cologne has proved a complete success for another year running

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