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Format

Acrobat PDF/A - Portable Document Format

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Summary

Name
Acrobat PDF/A - Portable Document Format
Version
4e
Identifiers
  • MIME: application/pdf
  • PUID: fmt/1911
Format type
Page Description
Description
PDF/A-4 is the file format described by ISO 19005-4:2020 “Document management — Electronic document file format for long-term preservation — Part 4: Use of ISO 32000-2 (PDF/A-4)”. It is the first of the PDF-Archival format family to be based on PDF 2.0. PDF/A-4e is aimed at engineering use-cases that allows for rich media such as interactive 3D elements to be embedded.
Note
https://www.iso.org/standard/71832.html
File extensions
pdf
Source
Preservica / Preservica
Developed by
Adobe Systems Incorporated

Relationships

Has priority over

Internal signatures

PDF/A-4e variant 1

Note
BOF: ‘%PDF-2.’[0-9], then variable: ‘<pdfaid:part>4</pdfaid:part>’ followed by ‘<pdfaid:conformance>E</pdfaid:conformance>’

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
255044462D322E[30:39]
Endianness
None
Min Frag Length
Variable
Offset
None
Max offset
None
Byte Sequence
3C7064666169643A706172743E343C2F7064666169643A706172743E*3C7064666169643A636F6E666F726D616E63653E453C2F7064666169643A636F6E666F726D616E63653E
Endianness
None

PDF/A-4e variant 2

Note
‘%PDF-2.’[0-9], then variable: ‘<pdfaid:conformance>E</pdfaid:conformance>’ followed by ‘<pdfaid:part>4</pdfaid:part>’

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
255044462D322E[30:39]
Endianness
None
Min Frag Length
Variable
Offset
None
Max offset
None
Byte Sequence
3C7064666169643A636F6E666F726D616E63653E453C2F7064666169643A636F6E666F726D616E63653E*3C7064666169643A706172743E343C2F7064666169643A706172743E
Endianness
None

PDF/A-4e variant 3

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
255044462D322E[30:39]
Endianness
None
Min Frag Length
Variable
Offset
0
Max offset
None
Byte Sequence
7064666169643A706172743D223422207064666169643A636F6E666F726D616E63653D224522
Endianness
None

PDF/A-4e variant 4

Byte sequences

Min Frag Length
Absolute from BOF
Offset
0
Max offset
0
Byte Sequence
255044462D322E[30:39]
Endianness
None
Min Frag Length
Variable
Offset
0
Max offset
None
Byte Sequence
7064666169643A636F6E666F726D616E63653D224522207064666169643A706172743D223422
Endianness
None

Changelog

  • Added in V121

    Release date
    24 September 2025

    Acrobat PDF/A - Portable Document Format v.4e: 2 additional signature variants. Submitted by Preservica.

    Acrobat PDF/A - Portable Document Format v.4e: Signature researched and samples provided by Preservica.

  • Updated in V118

    Release date
    30 April 2024

    Acrobat PDF/A - Portable Document Format 4e: Spelling mistake corrected in MIME Type. Submitted by Archives New Zealand and Brigham Young University.

  • Added in V115

    Release date
    15 November 2023

    Acrobat PDF/A - Portable Document Format 4e: Signature researched and samples provided by Preservica.

    Acrobat PDF/A - Portable Document Format 4e: Full entry added. Submitted by Preservica.