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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!

Microsoft announces support for PDF/UA on MacOS

August 2016 by Duff Johnson
News


PDF/UA documents from Microsoft are on the way.

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August 2016 by Duff Johnson
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ECM needs a common portable container to move information management to the next level.

Article

August 2016 by PDF Association staff
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You missed the PDF Days Europe 2016? Never mind!

Article

August 2016 by PDF Association staff
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My interview with Nikos Andronikos, who chairs the W3C’s SVG Working Group (WG), about SVG and PDF.

Article

August 2016 by Duff Johnson
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version 0.20 is a minor update to the software. In addition, 34 files have been aded to the test corpus … Read more

News

July 2016 by Duff Johnson
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veraPDF ships a new interim release.

News

July 2016 by PDF Association staff
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Governments have a special interest in PDF. The PDF Association helps them understand and address PDF technology in policies and … Read more

Article

June 2016 by PDF Association staff
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This year, PDF Days Europe is well-established as the world’s top PDF event. Over 150 attendees came to Berlin for … Read more

Article

June 2016 by PDF Association staff
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I’m honored to have been elected as chairman of the PDF Association’s board of directors in June 2016. Here, I’d … Read more

Article

June 2016 by Duff Johnson
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The composition of the Board now includes six from Europe and four from North America, including Adlib Software, Adobe Systems, … Read more

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June 2016 by PDF Association staff
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About 150 attendees from all over the world visited the PDF Days Europe 2016 in Berlin.

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