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The PDF Association celebrates its members’ public statements
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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!

Browsers leverage PDF in their battle for dominance

November 2025 by PDF Association staff
PDF in the Wild


Browsers leverage PDF in their battle for dominance | Your PDF says a lot about you | Is Big Data finally getting smarter about PDF? Hmm… | For government, accessible … Read more

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November 2025 by Peter Wyatt
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Understanding how URLs can exist and behave in PDF/A files is critical to preservationists who need to identify, audit, and … Read more

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November 2025 by PDF Association staff
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The global digital preservation community will come together on Thursday, November 6, 2025 to celebrate #WDPD2025 under the theme “Why Preserve?” Learn how … Read more

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October 2025 by PDF Association staff
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PDF Days Europe 2025 introduced a new concept to our events: the poster session! Now you can download the posters … Read more

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October 2025 by PDF Association staff
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The wait is over! The recordings of all the presentations of PDF Days Europe are online and ready for you!

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October 2025 by PDF Association staff
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Download Peter Wyatt’s Milestones in the History of PDF poster at PDF Days Europe 2025.

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October 2025 by PDF Association staff
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Thomas Zellmann is PDF Champion for 2025!

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October 2025 by PDF Association staff
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Milestones in the History of PDF | Chrome’s newest feature | JPEG 2000 turns 25 | Windows 11 October 2025 … Read more

PDF in the Wild

October 2025 by Daniel Wilson (BFO (Big Faceless Organization))
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The PDF industry is preparing for the quantum era by adopting post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standards. Following key developments at PDF … Read more

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October 2025 by PDF Association staff
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Including Custom Metadata Structures in PDF fills a gap for organizations seeking to leverage metadata in business processes. By articulating … Read more

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September 2025 by PDF Association staff
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Thank you Berlin | PDF 2.0 support gets top billing in coverage of LibreOffice 25.8 | Now Tagged PDF and … Read more

PDF in the Wild

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