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


A case study in PDF forensics: The Epstein PDFs

This article details a PDF forensics case study on a small, random selection of the Epstein PDF files released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The tranche contains 4,085 PDF files, with an estimated 5,879 remaining unreleased. Key findings include:

  • A difference in PDF version reporting between forensic tools.
  • The presence of two incremental updates.
  • The discovery of a hidden (orphaned) document information dictionary revealing the software used in processing.
  • The DoJ avoided JPEG images to prevent metadata leakage.
  • Overall, the DoJ’s sanitization workflow could be improved to reduce file size and information leakage.
Peter Wyatt

By Peter Wyatt
December 2025

A case study in PDF forensics: The Epstein PDFs

This article details a PDF forensics case study on a small, random selection of the Epstein PDF files released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). The tranche contains 4,085 PDF files, with an estimated 5,879 remaining unreleased. Key findings include:

  • A difference in PDF version reporting between forensic tools.
  • The presence of two incremental updates.
  • The discovery of a hidden (orphaned) document information dictionary revealing the software used in processing.
  • The DoJ avoided JPEG images to prevent metadata leakage.
  • Overall, the DoJ’s sanitization workflow could be improved to reduce file size and information leakage.
Peter Wyatt

By Peter Wyatt
December 2025

UNSAFE-DOCS: a new SafeDocs Corpus including the Voice of the Offense

January 2024 by PDF Association staff
Article


The PDF, ICC, NITF and video datasets used in SafeDocs’ performer hackathons and evaluations are now available for download from digitalcorpora.org.

PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff's profile.

December 2023 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

In 2023, the volunteers and staff of the PDF Association were busier than ever, with new working groups, resources, and … Read more

Article

December 2023 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
Visit Duff Johnson‘s profile.

It’s difficult to find other search terms that share PDF’s continuous upwards trend. Few technologies show this resilience, especially over … Read more

Article

December 2023 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

Join this webinar to learn why PDF/X-1a was a good idea 20 years ago, but no longer today and find … Read more

Article

December 2023 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

The Imaging Model Technical Working Group (TWG) will now focus on the research, specification, and prototyping at the very core … Read more

Article

November 2023 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Visit Dietrich von Seggern‘s profile.

Callas software’s Dietrich von Seggern describes a few of the innovative technologies under consideration for PDF as discussed at the … Read more

Article

October 2023 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
Visit Peter Wyatt‘s profile.

Although PDF is commonly understood as a single holistic file format, in reality, PDF comprises a number of distinct dialects, … Read more

Article

October 2023 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

5 years ago the PDF Accessibility LWG began a project to develop a set of accessibility techniques for PDF files. … Read more

Article

October 2023 by National Archives and Records Administration

New federal regulations set digitization standards for permanent records and require agencies to manage their permanent records in digital format.

Article

September 2023 by Thomas Zellmann
Picture of Thomas Zellmann
Visit Thomas Zellmann‘s profile.

To encourage marketing staff to sign up for the PDF Technology Marketing Working Group we decided to record a recent … Read more

Article

September 2023 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

PDF Week in San Francisco this October is hosting a free industry Symposium on Advancing the PDF Imaging Model! There’s … Read more

Article

Member News

WordPress Cookie Notice by Real Cookie Banner