PDF to PDF/A
Convert your PDF to the PDF/A archival format for long-term storage and compliance.
Convert a regular PDF to the archival PDF/A format. PDF/A is an ISO standard required for long-term archiving — used by governments, libraries, and legal systems to guarantee a document remains visually consistent and openable decades from now.
What is PDF/A?
PDF/A is an ISO standard for long-term archiving of electronic documents. It ensures the file can be reproduced exactly the same way in the future, regardless of the software or system used to view it.
- Long-term archival standard (ISO 19005)
- Fonts and color profiles embedded
- Accepted by government and courts
- No JavaScript or external dependencies
- Widely accepted for legal documents
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Max file size: 50 MB
How PDF to PDF/A works
PDF/A (the "A" stands for archival) is a strict subset of the PDF specification, standardized as ISO 19005. The goal is to ensure a document remains viewable and visually identical forever. To achieve this, PDF/A requires that all fonts are embedded (so they cannot get lost when a viewer's font library changes), prohibits JavaScript and audio/video (which depend on plugins that may not exist in the future), prohibits encryption (so the file can always be opened), and requires self-contained color profiles.
SwitchPDF uses Ghostscript's PDF/A conversion pipeline. Ghostscript opens the source PDF, walks every page, and rewrites it to comply with the PDF/A profile. Fonts that are not embedded are subsetted and embedded. Color information is normalized using the standard sRGB ICC profile. Disallowed elements (interactive form fields with scripts, embedded multimedia, encryption) are stripped. The result passes PDF/A validation tools and is accepted by archival systems that require the format.
PDF/A-2b is our default conversion target. It's the most widely accepted profile, balancing strict archival requirements with broad practical compatibility. PDF/A-1b is older and more restrictive (no transparency, no layers); PDF/A-3 allows embedded files but is sometimes rejected by archives that don't want hidden content.
Common use cases: submitting court documents in jurisdictions that require PDF/A; archiving research papers and dissertations for university libraries; long-term storage of contracts, patents, and corporate records; complying with government regulations that mandate PDF/A for digital records.
How to use PDF to PDF/A
Upload your PDF
Drag and drop or browse to the PDF you want to convert to PDF/A.
Convert to PDF/A
Click "Convert to PDF/A" — the file is processed by Ghostscript to embed all fonts and remove non-archival elements.
Download your PDF/A
Download the archival-compliant PDF. It will display identically decades from now, regardless of fonts or software changes.