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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!

How to optimally prepare PDF files for variable data printing

December 2022 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Article


Dietrich von Seggern from callas software explains, how companies can optimally prepare PDF files for variable data printing.

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December 2022 by PDF Association staff
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Adobe releases the source code for an early version of PostScript, the forerunner of PDF.

News

November 2022 by PDF Association staff
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DARPA will provide seed funding of $1.3M for research and prototyping centered on reinventing the PDF specification and delivering on … Read more

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November 2022 by PDF Association staff
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Our all-new presentation archive now includes recordings from PDF Days Europe 2022!

PDF Association news

November 2022 by PDF Association staff
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Impressions of the PDF Days Europe 2022 in September in Berlin at the Novotel Tiergarten. Images of several keynotes, sessions, … Read more

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October 2022 by Duff Johnson
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As of October 28 2022 worldwide searches for “pdf” had peaked in March, 2022. Even as internet searches continue to … Read more

Article

October 2022 by PDF Association staff
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In a new podcast episode, SE Radio’s Gavin Henry interviews PDF Association CTO Wyatt and CEO Johnson about a wide … Read more

News

October 2022 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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Some time ago Adobe announced that it “will disable support for authoring with Type 1 fonts by January 2023”. Dietrich … Read more

Article

September 2022 by PDF Association staff
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Following PDF Days Europe, the PDF Association’s annual All-Member Meeting met in Berlin on September 13, 2022 to hear the … Read more

PDF Association news

September 2022 by Duff Johnson
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PDF Days Europe 2022 was a great success, with the overwhelming majority of attendees reporting a high degree of satisfaction.

PDF Association news

September 2022 by PDF Association staff
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The PDF Association publishes new guidance to aide in optimizing PDF files for maximally-efficient rendering and print.

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