PDF/A is an ISO standard (ISO 19005) for PDF documents intended for long-term archiving. PDF/A-1b (the version FusionPDF produces) requires all content to be self-contained.

Government agencies, legal firms, healthcare providers and archives typically require PDF/A for regulatory compliance.

Why is rasterization used?

Rasterizing pages guarantees compliance by converting all content to images, eliminating dependencies on external fonts or resources.

Will the text be searchable in the output?

No — rasterization converts text to images. If searchable text is required, use a certified PDF/A converter with proper font embedding.

Can I convert a PDF to PDF/A for free?

Yes — completely free, no account, no file size limit.

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PDF to PDF/A

Convert your PDF to PDF/A-1b format for long-term archiving. Pages are rasterized.

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Convert PDF to PDF/A Free — ISO-Compliant Archiving Format

FusionPDF converts standard PDFs to PDF/A format using pdf-lib — an ISO-standardized format designed for long-term archiving. All processing happens in your browser, no upload required. The output embeds XMP metadata that identifies the document as PDF/A-1b compliant.

What Is PDF/A?

PDF/A is defined by ISO 19005, a standard created specifically for archiving electronic documents. Unlike a regular PDF, a PDF/A file must be fully self-contained. All fonts, color profiles, and metadata must be embedded inside the file. External references, such as fonts loaded from the operating system, are not permitted. The goal is to ensure the document renders identically in any PDF reader, on any system, decades from now.

Who Needs to Use PDF/A?

Legal professionals archiving contracts, court submissions, and signed agreements
Government agencies that require archival-format documents for regulatory filings
Healthcare organizations storing patient records that must remain readable long-term
Companies following ISO 27001 or similar compliance frameworks that mandate document preservation standards
Individuals archiving tax records, property documents, or correspondence for multi-year retention

What Changes During the Conversion?

FusionPDF's PDF/A converter rasterizes each page using PDF.js and rebuilds the document with pdf-lib. This approach ensures no external font or resource dependency survives in the output. The process adds XMP metadata declaring PDF/A-1b conformance. You can choose from three quality levels — Low, Medium, and High — which control the render resolution of the rasterized pages.

PDF/A vs. Regular PDF: What Is the Practical Difference?

A regular PDF may reference fonts installed on the creator's operating system, or include links to external resources. If those fonts are unavailable when the file is opened years later, the rendering may differ from the original. PDF/A removes this risk. Everything needed to render the document correctly is embedded inside the file. This is why archiving bodies and courts require it — the format is self-verifying and self-sufficient.