Editing a PDF/A file here removes its conformance
Exporting from any tool on this site produces an ordinary PDF, even when the file you opened was PDF/A. The export rebuilds the document, and the parts that declare and support conformance — the archival metadata and the colour profile — are not carried over. Text this site adds also uses fonts that are not embedded, which PDF/A forbids. If a portal or archive requires PDF/A, do not upload a file you have exported from here without converting and validating it again.
Why we do not offer it
PDF/A is a promise that a file will display the same way decades from now, and the promise is only worth anything if it is checked. Every font must be embedded, colour must be defined by an embedded profile, the metadata must agree with itself, and anything that depends on the outside world — scripts, encryption, external links to content — must be absent.
A converter that stamps “PDF/A” on a file without proving those things produces the worst possible result: a file that claims to be archival, is accepted today, and is rejected by the validator the archive runs later. We would rather send you to tools that validate than add one that only claims.
What to use instead
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| The program that made the document | The most reliable route. LibreOffice has an “Archive (PDF/A)” option in its PDF export, and Word’s PDF options include “PDF/A compliant”. |
| Ghostscript | Free and offline. Its PDF writer can convert an existing PDF to PDF/A. Check the result, since not every input can be converted cleanly. |
| veraPDF | The free, open-source validator backed by the PDF Association. It tells you whether a file really conforms and, if not, exactly which rule it breaks. Use it on whatever you produce. |