PDF to PDF/A

PDF to PDF/A converts a regular PDF into one that declares PDF/A-2B conformance — the ISO 19005 archival standard used by courts, government agencies, libraries and long-term record systems, which guarantees a document renders identically decades from now, independent of any specific software. It attaches a real, embedded sRGB color profile and the required XMP metadata, and removes any document-level JavaScript. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

How to use it

1. Upload the PDF you want to archive.
2. Press Convert to PDF/A. The converted file downloads automatically as pdfa.pdf.
3. If the tool finds a font in your file that doesn't look embedded, it'll say so after converting — see below.

What PDF/A conformance means

A PDF/A file is self-contained and device-independent: no reliance on fonts that might not be installed later, no encryption, no external content, no interactive JavaScript, and a declared color space so an image renders the same way on any conforming reader. PDF/A-2B is the "Basic" conformance level of Part 2 — it doesn't require the fully tagged, logically-structured text that Level A conformance does, but it's the level most archival and compliance workflows actually ask for, and (unlike Part 1) it allows transparency, which plenty of everyday PDFs already use.

What this tool checks — and doesn't

This tool does the part of PDF/A conversion that's reachable entirely client-side, without a native validation engine:

• Attaches a real sRGB ICC OutputIntent — an actual embedded color profile, not just a label — so a PDF/A reader has a defined color space to render against.
• Adds the XMP metadata packet PDF/A readers look for (pdfaid:part=2, pdfaid:conformance=B).
• Strips document JavaScript, which PDF/A disallows outright.
• Refuses to touch an encrypted file — PDF/A doesn't allow encryption either. Run it through Unlock PDF first, then convert the result.

What it can't do: force-embed a font your source PDF never embedded. Full PDF/A conformance requires every font used in the document to be embedded, and embedding a missing font means re-authoring the file's content streams — well beyond what's possible from a browser without a rendering/typesetting engine. If this tool finds a font that doesn't look embedded, it tells you which one after converting, so you know your file may still fail a strict validator (like veraPDF) even with the archival metadata correctly in place. In practice, most PDFs exported from modern word processors and design tools already embed their fonts, so this rarely comes up.

Will this work on a password-protected PDF?

Not directly — PDF/A prohibits encryption entirely. Unlock the file first with Unlock PDF, then run the unlocked result through this tool.

Is this the same as a full PDF/A validator?

No. Tools like veraPDF perform exhaustive ISO 19005 validation — checking every font, color space, transparency group and structural rule in the file. This tool handles the metadata and color-profile half of conversion, which covers the vast majority of everyday PDFs, but it doesn't replace a full validation pass for a compliance-critical workflow.

Your file is processed entirely on your device and is never uploaded. To just clean up a PDF's title/author/date metadata instead of converting it, see Remove PDF Metadata.