1. IronPDF
  2. Troubleshooting
  3. PDF Version

PDF File Versions

How do I change the PDF version?

The PDF version tag is set according to the features used when you create a PDF.

For example:

  • A basic PDF with no advanced features used will likely be 1.4
  • Adding an advanced feature, such as layers, means the version tag updates to 1.7
  • Removing layers from the PDF would change the version tag back to 1.4

PDF creation tools will always try to use the lowest PDF version for compatibility reasons.

However, a hack that can be used to change a PDF File version from 1.4 to 1.7 via IronPDF is by using the combination of PdfDocument.Merge() static method and PdfDocument.Remove() method.
Code snippet below demonstrates


using IronPdf;

var ren = new ChromePdfRenderer();

var pdf1 = ren.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>hello, this is required PDF</h1>"); //PDF to change file version

var pdf2 = ren.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>this is mock PDF</h1>"); //mock PDF for Merge() method

//PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2).SaveAs("merged.pdf");
var pdf3 = PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2);
var pdf4 = pdf3.RemovePage(1);

pdf4.SaveAs("anothermerged.pdf"); //output PDF with 1.7 PDF document version


using IronPdf;

var ren = new ChromePdfRenderer();

var pdf1 = ren.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>hello, this is required PDF</h1>"); //PDF to change file version

var pdf2 = ren.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>this is mock PDF</h1>"); //mock PDF for Merge() method

//PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2).SaveAs("merged.pdf");
var pdf3 = PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2);
var pdf4 = pdf3.RemovePage(1);

pdf4.SaveAs("anothermerged.pdf"); //output PDF with 1.7 PDF document version

Imports IronPdf

Private ren = New ChromePdfRenderer()

Private pdf1 = ren.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>hello, this is required PDF</h1>") 'PDF to change file version

Private pdf2 = ren.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>this is mock PDF</h1>") 'mock PDF for Merge() method

'PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2).SaveAs("merged.pdf");
Private pdf3 = PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2)
Private pdf4 = pdf3.RemovePage(1)

pdf4.SaveAs("anothermerged.pdf") 'output PDF with 1.7 PDF document version
VB   C#

You can check the PDF version of the resulting PDF output.

On the other hand, you can also change the PDF version tag manually in a PDF, say 1.4 to 2.0, but it is just a tag and won't change the PDF itself in any meaningful way, if using this method.