Made Good Designs

PDF to PDF/A Converter

Convert PDF to PDF/A online for free — create archival PDF/A-2b files for long-term storage and for court, government, tender and university submissions. Fonts are embedded and an sRGB colour profile is added. No sign-up, no watermark.

Private by design. Your file travels over an encrypted connection to our conversion server, is processed in memory, and is deleted as soon as the result is sent back. Nothing is stored or logged.

Encrypted upload — converted & deleted in seconds

Converted to PDF/A-2b with Ghostscript on our conversion server: fonts are embedded and an sRGB colour profile is added. Your PDF is sent over an encrypted connection, converted in memory and deleted immediately.

How to convert a PDF to PDF/A

  1. Drop your PDF here, or click to choose it.
  2. Click “Convert to PDF/A”.
  3. Wait a moment while it's converted with Ghostscript.
  4. The PDF/A file downloads automatically.

What you can use it for

  • Submit documents to courts and e-filing portals that require PDF/A
  • Archive records, invoices and contracts long term
  • Meet university thesis and government submission rules
  • Prepare files for document-management systems

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Frequently asked questions

What is PDF/A?

PDF/A is an ISO standard version of PDF for long-term archiving. Everything needed to display the file — fonts and colour profiles — is embedded, and features that could break later, such as external links to fonts or JavaScript, aren't allowed.

Which PDF/A version does this create?

PDF/A-2b (ISO 19005-2, level B), the version most archives and portals accept. Level B guarantees the document will look the same in future.

Is the output validated?

The file is created by Ghostscript's PDF/A mode and marked as PDF/A-2b with an sRGB output intent. If a portal requires a formal validation report, check the file with the free veraPDF validator.

Will my PDF look different?

It should look the same. Transparency, layers and some form features may be flattened to meet the standard.

Why is my PDF uploaded?

PDF/A conversion needs Ghostscript, which runs on our conversion server. Your file is sent over an encrypted connection, converted in memory and deleted immediately.

Can I convert password-protected PDFs?

No — unlock the PDF first with Unlock PDF, then convert it.