PDF/A
The PDF/Archive project was initiated in October 2002 when a group of individuals representing the end user, archival, records management and solution providers communities met to discuss a similar concern about the long-term preservation of electronic documents. The PDF/A project was approved by the AIIM Standards Board in October 2002. In August 2003, the project work was approved as an ISO New Work Item. ISO 19005-1, was published by ISO in September 2005. This standard is based on the Adobe PDF Reference 1.4. The U.S. effort is jointly managed by AIIM and NPES.
The ISO committee consists of representatives from ISO TC 171 SC2, Document Management Applications, Application Issues; TC 130, Graphics Technology; TC 46, SC11 ; and TC42, Photography.
The committee is currently working on ISO 19005-2 which will be based upon ISO 32000-1 (ISO PDF) as well as ISO 19005-3 which will address electronic documents containing dynamic media (movies, sounds, 3D, etc). This wiki is used to manage the committee's work.
PDF/A Embedded File Discussion
During the PDF working group meetings in Hamburg, the discussion of embedded files in PDF/A files came up. This also included the embedding of XML in a PDF/A file. To prepare for the upcoming ISO meetings, we would like to have a wiki based discussion on embedded files. One opinion on this topic has been posted at PDFA Embedded. Please post comments to this page.
PDF/A Links
AIIM's PDF/A page.
NPES's PDF/A page.
Wikipedia's PDF/A page.
Guidance on the Use of PDF/A
US National Archives FAQ's regarding PDF/A.
US National Archives transfer instructions regarding PDF/A.
US Federal Government Guidance on Sustainable Formats
US National Archives FAQs regarding sustainable formats.
US Library of Congress, Sustainability of Digital Formats. http://www.digitalpreservation.gov
