PDF vs. PDF/A: What's the Difference and When to Use Each

Most of us use PDFs every day, but you may have also come across a variant called PDF/A. While they look identical, they serve very different purposes. Understanding the difference is crucial for anyone involved in document management, especially for legal, government, and academic sectors. Let's break down the distinction between PDF and PDF/A.

What is a PDF?

PDF (Portable Document Format) was created by Adobe in the 1990s to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. A standard PDF can contain a wide range of elements, including:

• Text, images, and vector graphics
• Interactive elements like forms, buttons, and hyperlinks
• Audio and video content
• JavaScript for dynamic functionality
• External font and resource linking
• Encryption and password protection

This richness makes PDFs versatile for everyday use, from interactive forms to multimedia presentations. However, this same complexity poses a problem for long-term preservation.

What is PDF/A?

PDF/A is a specialized version of the PDF format designed for the long-term archiving and preservation of electronic documents. The 'A' stands for Archiving. It’s an ISO-standardized format (ISO 19005) that ensures a document can be opened and will look exactly the same, years or even decades from now, regardless of the software or hardware used to view it.

To achieve this, PDF/A has a stricter set of rules. It prohibits features that could interfere with long-term preservation. Key restrictions in PDF/A include:

• No audio or video content: These formats might not be supported in the future.
• No JavaScript or executable file launches: These pose security risks and can become obsolete.
• All fonts must be embedded: This guarantees that the text will always be displayed correctly, even if the viewing system doesn't have the original fonts installed.
• All content must be self-contained: No linking to external resources. Everything needed to render the document must be within the file itself.
• No encryption: The file must be fully accessible for future preservation efforts.
• Color spaces must be device-independent: This ensures colors are rendered consistently across different devices.

When to Use PDF vs. PDF/A

Use Standard PDF When:

• You need interactive features like fillable forms or buttons.
• The document is for short-term use and collaboration.
• You want to embed multimedia content like audio or video.
• The document needs to be password-protected or have access restrictions.

Use PDF/A When:

• The document needs to be preserved for a long period (e.g., legal documents, government records, academic theses, library archives).
• You are required to by regulatory or institutional standards.
• You need to ensure the document will be visually identical and fully accessible for the foreseeable future.

How to Convert to PDF/A

Many modern document creation tools, including Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat Pro, have a "Save As PDF/A" option. Additionally, specialized tools like pd-ai's PDF to PDF/A converter can easily transform your existing PDFs into the archival format, ensuring they meet the strict ISO standards.

Conclusion

Think of PDF as the versatile, everyday format for dynamic document sharing, and PDF/A as the time capsule, ensuring that what you save today can be perfectly retrieved tomorrow. By choosing the right format for the job, you ensure your documents are not only usable now but also preserved for the future.