PDF to PDF/A
Convert a PDF to PDF/A-1b (archival format) entirely in your browser. Best-effort — see honest limits below.
Select a PDF
or drop a PDF here — encrypted PDFs must be unlocked first
—
Best-effort conformance. This tool produces a PDF/A-1b structure that passes basic veraPDF checks for most simple PDFs. For regulated submissions (court filing, government archival), validate at verapdf.org and use Adobe Acrobat if compliance is mandatory.
Your file is ready
Processed entirely in your browser — the file never left your device.
How to convert PDF to PDF/A
Three steps. Nothing uploaded.
Pick a PDF
Open or drop a PDF. Encrypted PDFs must be unlocked first.
Set metadata
Title and author are written into the XMP packet and Info dictionary.
Download & validate
Download the PDF/A and (optional) drop it into verapdf.org to check conformance.
What this tool does, exactly
PDF/A-1b is the most common PDF/A conformance level: it asks that a PDF be visually reproducible in the future. To get there from a regular PDF you need to (a) embed an output colour profile so the document's colours are unambiguous, (b) declare the conformance level in metadata, (c) remove anything that depends on runtime execution (JavaScript, encryption, open actions). This tool does all of that:
- Embeds the standard sRGB IEC61966-2.1 ICC profile and references it from an
OutputIntentdictionary. - Writes an XMP metadata stream declaring
pdfaid:part=1andpdfaid:conformance=B. - Removes JavaScript actions, embedded files, additional actions, and the AcroForm dictionary.
- Adds a trailer
/IDentry (required for PDF/A). - Saves without object streams (PDF/A-1 forbids them).
What it does NOT do
We are honest about the gaps:
- Font embedding. If a font is referenced by name and not embedded in the source PDF, we don't fetch a replacement. Adobe Acrobat does. Strict validators will flag this.
- Transparency flattening. PDF/A-1b forbids transparency. If your source has soft masks or alpha channels, we don't rasterise them — that requires a full layout engine.
- Colour space conversion. We assume your colours are RGB. Spot colours or CMYK in the source are not converted.
- PDF/A-2 or PDF/A-3. Only PDF/A-1b in this version. PDF/A-2/3 allow more (transparency, JBIG2, attachments) but require more careful structural mapping.
How to verify
Drop the converted file into the open-source web validator at verapdf.org. Look for a green "PDF/A-1B compliant" badge. For simple text-plus-image PDFs the output usually passes. For complex sources (transparency, custom fonts), expect veraPDF to flag issues — at which point the right tool is Acrobat, not a free in-browser converter.
Privacy & security
Archival conversion is a paranoid-by-default workflow — the files being archived are usually originals you cannot risk leaking. Because every byte of this conversion runs in your browser, there is no upload step to trust. The whole pipeline is also offline-capable once the page has loaded.
Frequently asked questions
PDF/A is an ISO standard for archival PDFs. The idea: a PDF/A file is self-contained — fonts are embedded, colour spaces are explicit, no JavaScript, no encryption — so that any future PDF reader, even decades from now, can render it identically. Courts, government archives, banks, and academic publishers often require submissions in PDF/A.
It is best-effort. This tool produces a PDF/A-1b structure — sRGB OutputIntent, XMP metadata declaring PDF/A-1b, trailer /ID, no JavaScript, no encryption, no object streams — that passes most automated veraPDF checks for simple PDFs (text + images). It is NOT a substitute for Adobe Acrobat's full PDF/A conversion engine, which handles font subsetting, transparency flattening, and a long list of edge cases. For regulated filings, validate the output yourself and use Acrobat if compliance is mandatory.
Use the open-source veraPDF validator. The simplest path is the web validator at https://verapdf.org — drop your converted PDF into it and look for "PDF/A-1B compliant". For batch verification, download the desktop veraPDF tool. We deliberately link to a third-party validator because asking us to vouch for our own output would defeat the purpose.
PDF/A explicitly forbids encryption. If your input PDF is password-protected, we refuse to convert it and ask you to unlock it first. This isn't a tool limitation — it's a requirement of the PDF/A standard itself.
Fonts already embedded in your source PDF stay embedded. Fonts referenced by name only (relying on the reader having them installed) will not be embedded by this v0.1 tool — that is the most common reason a simple PDF fails strict PDF/A validation. For documents with non-system fonts, run them through Adobe Acrobat's PDF/A converter, which has full font-subsetting machinery.