PDF to PDF/A

How the PDF/A Converter works

PDF/A is the version of PDF built to be opened in fifty years. It is an ISO standard, ISO 19005, and it works by banning anything that depends on the outside world: fonts that live on the reader's computer, colours with no defined meaning, scripts, links to external files, and encryption that needs a password nobody remembers. Many courts, tax offices, universities, public archives and document management systems accept only PDF/A for that reason. A thesis repository or an e-filing portal will often reject an upload with a message like "file is not PDF/A compliant".

How to convert PDF to PDF/A

1. Drop the PDF into the box.
2. If the file passes the checks, download the copy ending in -pdfa.pdf.
3. If it is refused, the message names the problem. Fix it at the source and try again.

What the tool changes

A PDF that is already self-contained is often only a few markers away from PDF/A. The tool adds those markers and leaves the pages themselves untouched.

The colour profile is a compact sRGB profile generated by the tool itself, so no third-party profile file is involved.

What it refuses, and why

Some problems cannot be fixed by adding markers, because the information the archive needs is not in the file at all.

Fonts that are not embedded, other than the standard ones. Many PDFs name a font and expect the reader to supply it. PDF/A requires the font itself inside the file. For Helvetica, Arial, Times and Courier the tool embeds Liberation Sans, Serif or Mono, open fonts drawn to the same character widths, so the text keeps its layout. Any other missing font cannot be invented. Export the document again from Word, LibreOffice or your design app with "embed fonts" turned on, or print it to PDF, which embeds them automatically.

Uncalibrated CMYK colour. Files made for commercial printing often use plain CMYK. Those colours only have a meaning with a print profile, and choosing one changes how the document looks. Export an RGB version instead, or use the PDF/A option in the app that made the file.

Password-protected files. PDF/A forbids encryption. Unlock the file first.

Which PDF/A version

The "b" level means basic: the file will look the same everywhere. The stricter "a" level also needs a full structure tree for screen readers, which cannot be added automatically. PDF/A-2b is the version most portals ask for today and accepts almost anything a modern app produces.

Tips and pitfalls

Validate before you rely on it. This tool fixes the common gaps, but a few rare problems inside fonts or images cannot be detected in the browser, such as a font whose stored widths differ from its glyphs. veraPDF is the free reference validator used by archives, and running the result through it confirms compliance.

Converting does not make a scan searchable. PDF/A-2b only guarantees appearance. A scanned page stays an image.

Fill and flatten forms first. Form fields can stay in PDF/A, but flattening fixes the answers in place so they print exactly as shown.

Keep the original. Removing scripts and attachments is permanent in the converted copy.

Reading the result

Added lists each piece added to the file and Removed lists anything the standard does not allow that was taken out. Pages confirms the page count is unchanged.

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