PDF/A Document Export

from ironpdf import *

# Open a PDF or use an existing PdfDocument object
pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("source_doc.pdf")
 
# Perform PDF Editing Tasks...
 
# Save the PDF/A-3b Document to File
pdf.SaveAsPdfA("pdfa-compliant.pdf", PdfAVersions.PdfA3a)

pip install ironpdf

pip install ironpdf

PDF/A Document Export

IronPDF for Python can save any PdfDocument as a PDF/A-compliant archive file, ensuring long-term preservation and regulatory compliance.

Getting Started

Load or create a PdfDocument, then call SaveAsPdfA with the desired PDF/A version to produce a standards-compliant output file.

Understanding the Code

PdfDocument.FromFile(path): Opens an existing PDF from disk. You can also pass a freshly rendered PdfDocument produced by ChromePdfRenderer.
SaveAsPdfA(output_path, PdfAVersions.PdfA3a): Converts and saves the document as PDF/A-3a. The second argument specifies the conformance level.

Available PDF/A Versions

IronPDF supports multiple PDF/A conformance levels through the PdfAVersions enum:

PdfA1a, PdfA1b - ISO 19005-1 (earliest standard)
PdfA2a, PdfA2b, PdfA2u - ISO 19005-2 (improved color and transparency support)
PdfA3a, PdfA3b, PdfA3u - ISO 19005-3 (allows embedding of arbitrary file attachments)

The a suffix indicates full accessibility (tagged PDF); b indicates basic visual reproducibility; u requires all text to have Unicode mappings.

When to Use PDF/A

PDF/A is required for legal filings, government submissions, medical records, and any archive where documents must be self-contained and visually reproducible without external resources decades into the future.