The pass flattens form fields and annotations into the page, removes encryption and permission flags, clears volatile metadata, writes an XMP tag declaring archival intent, and saves without object streams so older readers can parse the file. Every visible page is unchanged.
It is not a certified PDF/A-1b or PDF/A-2b converter. Certification requires embedding every font subset, declaring a colour profile and validating against ISO 19005, which needs tens of megabytes of libraries a browser tab cannot carry. For a certified stamp, use Acrobat Pro or a desktop converter. For the everyday goal, a file that still opens cleanly in ten years, this output is enough.
Signed contracts entering a document management system. A thesis deposit for an institutional repository. Tax returns, deeds and certificates in a personal archive. The common requirement is a file that does not depend on the software, the settings or the person who made it. Most rejections by archive systems come down to three things, interactive layers, encryption and messy metadata, and all three are within a browser's reach.
How to convert a PDF to PDF/A
Add the PDF
Drop it or browse. It is read into browser memory; nothing is uploaded.
Pick a resolution and a title
200 dpi reads and prints cleanly and is the right default. 300 dpi for fine print or plans, 150 dpi when size matters more. The title is written to both the Info record and the XMP, as the standard requires.
Press Convert to PDF/A-2b
Each page is rendered and embedded as a JPEG, the text is written back as an invisible layer in embedded Noto Sans, forms, scripts, attachments and encryption are removed, an sRGB output intent and PDF/A identification are written, and the file gets a trailer identifier.
Download and file it
A self-contained PDF/A-2b file that depends on nothing outside itself. Keep the original alongside it for editing.
ISO 19005-2, level B: reliable visual reproduction. The level archives and courts most often ask for.
Page images carry no fonts; the invisible text layer uses one embedded subset of Noto Sans.
Contracts, records and deposits are converted on your machine.
What the standard requires, and how each rule is met
- Every font embeddedPages are images; the text layer uses an embedded Noto Sans subset
- Device colour must be definedAn sRGB ICC profile is embedded as the output intent
- Identification in XMPpdfaid:part 2, conformance B, uncompressed, title mirrored in Info
- No encryptionEncrypted files must be unlocked first; the output carries none
- No JavaScript, no attachments, no formsRemoved, with form values drawn into the page image
- No transparency groupsPage images are opaque; transparency is flattened by rendering
- Trailer identifierA random 16-byte ID pair is written
The image approach is the same one every scanner and most conversion services use for level B. It sidesteps the hardest part of PDF/A, which is auditing every font, colour space and transparency group in an arbitrary file, by replacing them with the one thing every reader in every decade renders the same way: a picture. The cost is that vector text becomes pixels at the resolution you chose, which is why 200 dpi is the floor for anything with small print.
Why archives reject ordinary PDFs
A regular PDF can depend on external state in ways that are invisible when it works and fatal when it does not.
Depends on something outside the file
- Form values that only some readers draw
- A password nobody will have in a decade
- Fonts referenced by name and not embedded
- Metadata naming an author who has left
- Object streams that a legacy parser rejects
Everything needed is inside the file
- All content drawn into the pages
- No encryption, no permission flags
- Standard fonts, or fonts embedded by the producer
- Clean, minimal, truthful metadata
- Plain structure any parser reads
The pass moves a file from the first column toward the second on every point a browser can influence. Font embedding is the exception: the tool cannot embed fonts it does not have. Files produced by Word, LibreOffice and Acrobat embed their fonts already; files that used only the base fourteen fonts need none.
What this converter is, and is not
Certified PDF/A conformance is a specification, ISO 19005, with validators such as veraPDF that check colour profiles, font embedding, transparency and dozens of structural rules. This tool builds files that satisfy those rules by construction: it does not carry a validator, so it cannot show you a green tick. It produces the file; a validator confirms it.
- Use it when a records system, a court portal or a regulator asks for PDF/A-2b, or when you want a file that will open identically in twenty years. That is the everyday case.
- Validate afterwards when a submission is rejected on a technicality or when policy demands a report. veraPDF is free and runs on any desktop; if it reports a failure, the file and the report are enough to tell us what to fix.
- Use a desktop converter when you need PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-3 with embedded attachments, or vector text preserved as vectors. Image-based output is a level B file by design.
- Do not confuse any of this with a backup. An archival file on one disk is one copy. Keep two.
Where PDF/A earns its place
- Contract archives. Executed agreements flattened and decrypted before entering document management, with the signed original retained.
- Repository deposits. Preprints and theses prepared for institutional repositories that reject interactive content.
- Regulatory filings. Submissions to bodies that require PDF/A, converted here and validated with veraPDF where the body demands a report.
- Personal records. Tax returns, deeds, certificates: self-contained and future-proof after conversion.
Why it runs in your browser
Archival documents are the ones you intend to keep for decades: contracts, deeds, medical and financial records. Uploading them to a conversion server to strip a password and flatten a form is a disproportionate exposure for a structural rewrite that any browser can perform.
The tool is right above
Everything on this page runs in your browser. Scroll up, drop the file, and keep it on your machine.
Common questions
What people ask before filing the result.
01Does this produce real PDF/A?
It produces PDF/A-2b files that meet the standard by construction: every page is an image, the only font is embedded, colour is pinned to an sRGB output intent, and the XMP declares part 2 conformance B. It does not run a validator, so if a submission requires a conformance report, run the output through veraPDF, which is free.
02What does the conversion actually change?
Each page is rendered and embedded as a JPEG at the resolution you chose, the text is written back as an invisible layer in embedded Noto Sans, forms, scripts, attachments and transparency go, an sRGB output intent and PDF/A XMP are written, and the trailer gets an identifier. Visually the pages are unchanged; zoomed in, text is pixels rather than vectors.
03Why do archives reject regular PDFs?
Interactive layers that readers draw inconsistently, encryption that needs a key nobody will have, unembedded fonts, and volatile metadata. All depend on something outside the file.
04Will it change how the file looks?
At normal zoom, no. Each page is a 200 dpi image of itself, so print and screen look the same. At high zoom, text shows pixels rather than crisp vector edges, which is the trade every image-based PDF/A makes.
05Does it embed fonts?
Yes. The page images need no fonts, and the invisible text layer uses a subset of Noto Sans embedded in the file, so nothing depends on fonts installed on the reader's machine.
06Should I sign before or after?
After. Flattening invalidates an existing certificate signature. Convert first, then sign the archival copy if a signature is required, and keep the original too.
07Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. The whole conversion runs in your browser.
08Is it free?
Free. Every tool, unlimited use, no signup.