November 17, 2010

Did you know that PDF/A is being updated? Let us tell you a bit more about the changes taking place, and how you could benefit from this new version of the standard. 

The new version is called PDF/A-2.  Technical work on it was completed this past summer and the standard is set to be published in early 2011.

PDF/A-2 is an internationally approved ISO standard (ISO 19005-2) based on Adobe PDF 1.7 as defined in ISO 32000-1. It extends the functionality of PDF/A-1 without compromising the goal of long term reproducibility. 

Some PDF/A-2 features that may be of interest include:

• JPEG2000 – Higher compression ratios with better image quality is delivered with JPEG2000 compression technology when working with digital archival images and scanned documents.  For example, JPEG2000 supports lossless compression (or visually lossless), which can prove important for higher-end archival images, such as maps, art or historic documents.  Additionally, JPEG2000 can be applied to color layers of scanned documents optimized with mixed raster content (MRC) compression.  These attributes enable it to achieve greater compression with higher image quality for color and grayscale scanned documents. 
• Layers / Optional Content – PDF/A-2 will allow switching between two or more versions of the same content within one PDF document. This feature is particularly useful for multilingual documents where different languages can be displayed, for example toggling between English and Spanish.  It also can be used within construction industries, for hiding or displaying specific aspects of detailed design drawings.
• Transparency – PDF/A -2 will support transparent objects. Transparency can affect images, graphics and text.  Transparent objects are not 100 percent opaque; instead content behind these objects can be seen providing interesting effects, like highlighting and shading of select content.
• OpenType Fonts – Because of their versatility and comprehensive Unicode support, OpenType fonts are more frequently used today than ever before. With PDF/A-2, OpenType fonts can be embedded.
• Collections – Also known as portfolios in Acrobat, collections refers to merging several documents into one PDF container, such as groups of e-mails or e-mail attachments.  Each collection of PDFs can still be identified individually within the PDF container.
• Conformance Levels – As with PDF/A-1, PDF/A-2 defines conformance levels targeting different audiences. For example, PDF/A-1a and -2a require creators to manually tag documents, in most cases, to maintain the semantic reading order and meaning of the content.  This allows PDF/A content to be displayed accurately on smaller display devices or read aloud with audible readers.  This tagging is not required in PDF/A-1b and-2b, which therefore is more widely used since maintaining only the visual static representation is sufficient for many users. With PDF/A-2, there is a new level of compliance, PDF/A-2u.  This new level leverages the benefits of Unicode fonts without needing to tag each Unicode character’s corresponding glyph.

So now what?

If you or your organization is using PDF/A-1, you don’t have to migrate to PDF/A-2 since the earlier version will continue to be a valid standard and compatibility is ensured. However, if the new functions we talked about above could be a benefit to your organization or a specific project, it may be a good idea to switch to PDF/A-2, irrespective of the other tools you’re using.