PDF.co Now Supports PDF/A Conversion

PDF/A conversion is live! Our new endpoint, /v1/pdf/convert/to/pdfa, converts PDFs to PDF/A-3b and runs veraPDF validation as part of the job, so the compliance result comes back with the file.

PDF/A is the version of PDF built for long-term storage: fonts embedded, colors defined, nothing that depends on the outside world. Archives, courts and tax authorities require it, and until now customers who needed that step had to go elsewhere for it.

Converted files are checked by veraPDF, the PDF Association's open-source validator, and the result comes back with the file: isCompliant for your pipeline to branch on, plus a rule-by-rule report you can keep for audit records. A conversion can finish and still come back as isCompliant: false when the source file breaks a rule we can't fix. The report will name those rules, so you know what needs to be fixed.

We correct link flags before conversion so links come through, embed-check the fonts your source didn’t include, and list anything else that changed in a warnings array in the output.

Send a PDF URL and poll for the result, or supply a callback. Digitally signed and password-protected PDFs are rejected with an explanation rather than converted, because rewriting a signed PDF invalidates its signature.

See the full API documentation: https://developer.pdf.co/api/pdf-to-pdfa. Try it out today!

Coming soon: e-invoicing. Factur-X and ZUGFeRD invoices are PDF/A-3 files with the invoice XML embedded inside, and that endpoint is currently in development.