PDF archiv (PDF/A)

The International Standards Organization(ISO) has standardized the Portable Document Format( PDF) called PDF/A - the "A" stands for archive - under ISO 19005-1 for the long-term arch iving of documents.

PDF/A is based on the PDF file format in version PDF 1.4, but excludes some of the functions of the PDF version, as these could impair long-term archiving under certain circumstances. For example, PDF/A does not allow the use of external or specific resources such as embedded fonts. The exclusion of certain functionalities is intended to guarantee the long-term readability of documents, regardless of the application software used or the operating system in which it was created. On the other hand, the PDF/A standard stipulates that all content pertaining to the document must be contained within the document itself, including the fonts used. Furthermore, PDF/A documents must not contain links to other documents.

Unlike the PDF file format, PDF/A is a container format in which information is transported through the individual stages of the document workflow. In addition, digitalsignatures can be used to prove that changes have been made to a PDF/A document. PDF/A supports full- text search and classification based on metadata.