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PDF trends in 2025, according to AI

Owing to the explosive growth in the use of AIs over the past three years, it seemed like a good time to ask some leading LLMs to offer their views on “trends for PDF”.

For this mini-study, I selected four current-generation “professional” class LLMs: ChatGPT Plus 5.2, Gemini 3 Pro, Claude’s Opus 4.5, and Microsoft Copilot. I offered the same query to each:

“Estimate global trends in the use of PDF technology. Exclude the PDF Association (pdfa.org) as a source. Don’t mention any vendors by name.”

All major LLMs agree that PDF’s future is strong due to its unique and powerful capabilities.

Duff Johnson

By Duff Johnson
December 2025

PDF trends in 2025, according to AI

Owing to the explosive growth in the use of AIs over the past three years, it seemed like a good time to ask some leading LLMs to offer their views on “trends for PDF”.

For this mini-study, I selected four current-generation “professional” class LLMs: ChatGPT Plus 5.2, Gemini 3 Pro, Claude’s Opus 4.5, and Microsoft Copilot. I offered the same query to each:

“Estimate global trends in the use of PDF technology. Exclude the PDF Association (pdfa.org) as a source. Don’t mention any vendors by name.”

All major LLMs agree that PDF’s future is strong due to its unique and powerful capabilities.

Duff Johnson

By Duff Johnson
December 2025

The sun shines in Concord

April 2025 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association news


Members gather for PDF Week Boston 2025 in Concord, Massachusetts! Besides sightseeing and socializing there is also some work getting done!

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April 2025 by Duff Johnson
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What does it take to build the organizational skills and resources necessary to succeed in ensuring PDF documents are accessible?

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April 2025 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Accessibility LWG’s 2025-Q2 release focuses on headings, with 9 new techniques and 8 new failure examples.

PDF Association news

April 2025 by PDF Association staff
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AI’s Pirated-Books Problem | Correcting US financial regulations referencing PDF | New crawl limit improves CC’s capture of PDF | … Read more

PDF in the Wild

March 2025 by Robin Watts (Artifex Software Inc)
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Brotli compression is coming soon to PDF 2.0, enabling smaller file sizes. Sample PDF files are available to kickstart development!

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March 2025 by PDF Association staff
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When will AI understand document semantics? | Will LLM-based OCR live up to the challenge? | Indicating whether the publisher … Read more

PDF in the Wild

March 2025 by Erin Dempsey (TWAIN Working Group)
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This article explores how ISVs can use PDF/R to improve imaging application software’s efficiency, reduce development complexity, and enhance customer … Read more

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March 2025 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association will host a trio of PDF technology events in Berlin from September 11-19. Save the date… and … Read more

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February 2025 by PDF Association staff
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The new TWG will explore topics such as verifiable credentials, digital signatures, modern cryptography and content provenance frameworks in alignment … Read more

PDF Association news

February 2025 by PDF Association staff
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These free XMP Extension Schema templates support PDF documents that conform to multiple subset standards, including PDF/A, PDF/X, PDF/VT, and … Read more

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February 2025 by Peter Wyatt
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Google’s Jpegli promises smaller JPEG images (and so, smaller PDF files) with no change to reader software! Check it out … Read more

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