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

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!

PDF Days in October 2021

September 2021 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association news


For developers and heavy users of PDF technology the Technical Days and Solution Days sessions that make up PDF Days Online 2021 are a great place to find inspiration and … Read more

PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff's profile.

September 2021 by Peter Wyatt
Peter Wyatt
Visit Peter Wyatt‘s profile.

This article describes how PDF Association communities work, and how members can establish common understandings, participate on the development of … Read more

PDF Association news

September 2021 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

We have enhanced the PDF Association’s Feature Support pages to be driven by members’ product and services showcase listings on … Read more

PDF Association news

September 2021 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Visit Dietrich von Seggern‘s profile.

Dietrich von Seggern from callas software explains PDF standards with a focus on the newest standards.

Article

September 2021 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
Visit Duff Johnson‘s profile.

According to CommonCrawl’s detected MIME type PDF is the 3rd most popular file-format on the web (behind HTML and XHTML); … Read more

Article

September 2021 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

The PDF Association welcomes new members as we absorb the 3D PDF Consortium’s membership and functions. With two new working … Read more

PDF Association news

August 2021 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

PDF Days Online 2021 is brimming with up-to-date technical and educational presentations. If you work with digital documents there’s a … Read more

PDF Association news

August 2021 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Visit Dietrich von Seggern‘s profile.

Dietrich von Seggern describes optimal uses of automation in label printing and discusses the integration of print processing steps in … Read more

Article

August 2021 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

PDF Days this year is online-only. Technical Days sessions range from September 27 – October 18 at 1600 and 1700 … Read more

PDF Association news

July 2021 by PDF Association staff
PDF Association logo
Visit PDF Association staff‘s profile.

We preview some of what’s coming at PDF Days Europe 2021 with sessions in accessibility, production, security and core PDF … Read more

PDF Association news

July 2021 by Leonard Rosenthol (Adobe)
Leonard Rosenthol
Visit Leonard Rosenthol‘s profile.

The Technical Working Group’s chair explains the current missions of the PDF Forms TWG; a declarative model for business logic, … Read more

Article

Member News

WordPress Cookie Notice by Real Cookie Banner