PDF to PDF/A
Make an archival copy of a PDF, in the PDF/A-2b format that courts, governments and records offices ask for, so it opens and prints the same way for decades. It all happens in your browser.
How to convert a PDF to PDF/A
- Choose your PDF, or drag it onto the box above.
- Select Convert.
- Download the archival copy. Anything the conversion had to change is listed when it's done.
What changes
PDF/A is a PDF that depends on nothing outside itself. StaplePDF includes every font the file only names (using matching stand-ins with the same letter widths, so lines don't move), ties its colours to the standard sRGB colour profile, and adds the descriptive information (title, author, dates) in the form archives read. It removes what an archival PDF can't contain: scripts, attached files, sound and video, and actions that open other programs. Digital signatures are removed too, because any conversion changes the file and breaks them: sign the archival copy afterwards if you need to.
The result follows PDF/A-2b (ISO 19005-2, level B): it will look the same wherever and whenever it's opened. We check StaplePDF's conversions against veraPDF, the reference validator used by archives, with PDFs of many kinds.
Private by design
Records sent for archiving are often confidential. StaplePDF converts the file inside your browser; it's never uploaded.
Questions
Can every PDF be converted?
Almost every one. The exception is a PDF that uses a font it doesn't include and that StaplePDF has no stand-in for, most often for Chinese, Japanese or Korean text. You'll be told if that's the case, rather than given a file that only claims to be PDF/A.
Which PDF/A?
PDF/A-2b, the most widely accepted level today. It allows transparency and layers, which the older PDF/A-1 doesn't.
Is my PDF password-protected?
An archival PDF can't be encrypted. You'll be asked for the password to open it, and the archival copy won't have one.