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The PDF Association celebrates its members’ public statements
of support
for ISO-standardized PDF technology.

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PDF Champion 2025

October 2025 by PDF Association staff

This year’s PDF Champion is the man who, as much or more than anyone else, is responsible for launching the institutions that undergird the modern PDF technology industry: Thomas Zellmann.

Thomas has been a steady, energizing presence from the earliest days of the PDF/A Competence Center, which he helped to found in 2006. That organization is now today’s PDF Association thanks a large part to his committment.

In the Competence Centre era Thomas was one of the most visible ambassadors of that mission, speaking and teaching across Europe to help make long-term digital preservation a practical reality for institutions and enterprises. Thomas championed “anything to PDF/A” workflows and promoted archival quality as a first-class requirement, not an afterthought. Our community is stronger because of his work.

On this basis, and as approved by the Board of Directors of the PDF Association, we send our congratulations – and a cube of engraved aluminum – to Thomas Zellmann, PDF Champion for 2025!

This year’s PDF Champion is the man who, as much or more than anyone else, is responsible for launching the institutions that undergird the modern PDF technology industry: Thomas Zellmann.

Thomas has been a steady, energizing presence from the earliest days of the PDF/A Competence Center, which he helped to found in 2006. That organization is now today’s PDF Association thanks a large part to his committment.

In the Competence Centre era Thomas was one of the most visible ambassadors of that mission, speaking and teaching across Europe to help make long-term digital preservation a practical reality for institutions and enterprises. Thomas championed “anything to PDF/A” workflows and promoted archival quality as a first-class requirement, not an afterthought. Our community is stronger because of his work.

On this basis, and as approved by the Board of Directors of the PDF Association, we send our congratulations – and a cube of engraved aluminum – to Thomas Zellmann, PDF Champion for 2025!

Milestones in the History of PDF

October 2025 by PDF Association staff
PDF in the Wild


Milestones in the History of PDF | Chrome’s newest feature | JPEG 2000 turns 25 | Windows 11 October 2025 Update breaks PDF | ETSI third AI and Data Conference … Read more

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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

September 2025 by Peter Wyatt
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ISO standardized subsets of PDF, such as PDF/UA, enable files to claim conformance to a specific version of PDF/UA using … Read more

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September 2025 by PDF Association staff
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According to Board chair Raf Hens: “The event showcased what makes the PDF ecosystem unique: a standards-driven, industry-wide collaboration where … Read more

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September 2025 by PDF Association staff
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Communities shaping the future of PDF.

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September 2025 by PDF Association staff
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We’re proud to celebrate the PDF Association members who help make ISO standards for PDF available at no cost!

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August 2025 by Jacob Mellor (Iron Software)
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This article is written from my perspective as a lifelong software engineer and current CTO who codes differently – first … Read more

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August 2025 by PDF Association staff
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For organizations that depend on trust, efficiency, and long-term information integrity, PDF Days Europe is a strategic investment.

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August 2025 by PDF Association staff
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Encoding multilingual content | The US Library of Congress recognizes individual PDF/A-4 conformance levels | “There was no book” | … Read more

PDF in the Wild

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