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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!

IDM asks: “will you be ready for PDF 2.0”?

November 2016 by Duff Johnson
News


ISO 32000 Project co-Leader and PDF Association member Peter Wyatt talks PDF 2.0 and the upcoming PDF Day Australia conference on November 25 in Sydney.

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November 2016 by Duff Johnson
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Have you used veraPDF? Let the project’s funder know your views!

News

November 2016 by PDF Association staff
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This survey was designed for people with disabilities using adaptive technology. Every attempt has been made to ensure that the … Read more

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October 2016 by Duff Johnson
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The latest veraPDF now includes batch processing (beta), additional error-handling and extraction of the AFRelationship key.

News

September 2016 by PDF Association staff
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PDF/E Competence Center promote awareness of the ISO standard for engineering supporting the secure creation, exchange and use of engineering … Read more

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September 2016 by Matt Kuznicki
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Throughout Time… Reproduction of a bison of the cave of Altamira Humans have put their thoughts to media with the … Read more

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September 2016 by Duff Johnson
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Looking for PDF expertise in the Asia / Pacific region! Come to PDF Day Australia on November 25, 2016 in … Read more

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September 2016 by PDF Association staff
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This educational event is designed to help CIOs, document management experts and electronic content policy-makers come to grips with ISO-standardized … Read more

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September 2016 by Duff Johnson
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The latest incremental release reflects user requests, some minor fixes and a decision taken in the PDF Validation TWG.

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September 2016 by PDF Association staff
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The successful PDF Days Europe will be held in Berlin again. Across two days, you’ll be able to choose from … Read more

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September 2016 by Duff Johnson
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US agencies have released updated guidelines on digitizing books and other materials.

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