PDF/A
Technology & Computing abbreviation · File Format
| Stands for | Portable Document Format for Archiving |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
PDF/A stands for Portable Document Format for Archiving, a file format abbreviation.
ISO-standardized version of PDF designed for long-term preservation, requiring embedded fonts and self-contained content while forbidding encryption, JavaScript, audio, video and external links. Courts, governments and archives often require it.
Example: The court's e-filing system only accepts briefs saved as PDF/A.
Usage notes
The first part, ISO 19005-1, appeared in 2005; later parts include PDF/A-2 (2011), PDF/A-3 (2012), which allows embedded attachments and is used for e-invoices such as Germany's ZUGFeRD, and PDF/A-4 (2020). Conformance levels such as "b" (basic visual appearance) and "a" (accessible, tagged structure) indicate how strict a file is. Validation tools such as veraPDF check compliance.
Related abbreviations
More file format abbreviations
- ODP – OpenDocument Presentation
- ODS – OpenDocument Spreadsheet
- ODT – OpenDocument Text
- OGG – Ogg (container format)
- OTF – OpenType Font
- PDF – Portable Document Format
- PKG – Package installer file
- PNG – Portable Network Graphics
- PPT – Microsoft PowerPoint presentation (legacy binary format)
- PPTX – Office Open XML presentation
- PS – PostScript
- PSD – Photoshop Document