PDF to PDF/A – Free, No Upload

On your device · nothing is uploaded
No account, no email
PDF/A-2b
Free

How to save a PDF as PDF/A

Add your PDF
Drop it above or choose it.
Press Make PDF/A
The file is rewritten as PDF/A-2b and checked before it is offered. If it cannot be done without changing how the pages look, you get a sentence that says why.
Download the PDF/A copy
Save the new file. Your original stays as it was.

What stays and what doesn't

The pages look the same. PDF/A forbids a few things, and these are the ones that change:

scripts
extra properties

A digital signature is removed, only after you say so: any change to a signed file breaks the signature, so the file is held back until you choose to continue.

Print, copy and edit restrictions are removed, only after you say so: the file is held back until you choose to continue.

When it won't run

Five things stop a run before it writes anything, and each is said on the file's row. A PDF that needs a password asks for it there, and a wrong password is refused with a sentence that says so. A digitally signed PDF is held back until you choose to continue, because making it pdf/a would break the signature. A file that cannot be read is reported as damaged. A job too large for this device says so, and in every case nothing is changed and your original stays as it was.

The PDF opens, but its owner has switched off printing, copying or editing. Making it PDF/A would remove those restrictions.Remove the restrictions and continue
The PDF can't be made PDF/A without changing how it looks. Nothing was changed.

Making a PDF/A: what to expect

PDF/A is a version of PDF meant to open the same way years from now. To get there, everything a page needs must be inside the file: its fonts, its colours and its description. The tool rewrites the file to that rule as PDF/A-2b, the level for keeping how a document looks.

It never writes a file that only claims to be PDF/A. The result is checked by the tool before it is offered, and if the file cannot be made PDF/A without changing how it looks, nothing is written and the reason is given. The commonest reason is a font that is not saved inside the file.

The title, author and other properties are kept and written in the form PDF/A asks for. Scripts are removed, because PDF/A does not allow them. A PDF with sound or video is refused, since PDF/A does not allow those either. A password is removed, because an archive file must open on its own, and a signed or restricted file is held back until you choose to continue.

It has been checked against a large set of real PDFs from many programs. A small number of files, mostly ones with a font defect of their own, still come out with a flaw that a strict validator reports. Your original is never changed.

Questions

Are my PDFs uploaded?

No. Your PDFs are processed inside your browser, on your own phone or computer, and saved straight from this page. The reading at the top of the page counts every byte sent, and it stays at 0 B.

Which PDF/A level does it make?

PDF/A-2b. It keeps how the pages look and is the level most archives and offices accept.

Will the pages look the same?

Yes. If keeping them the same is not possible, the file is refused and nothing is changed.

Why was my PDF refused?

Most often a font is not saved inside the file, and adding a different one would change the look. A PDF with sound or video is refused too, because PDF/A does not allow it.

Is it validated?

The tool checks its own result before it offers it. A small number of files still show a flaw to a strict validator, so for a legal or archive deadline, check the file in a validator such as veraPDF as well.

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PDF to PDF/A, without the upload.