Question 1

Is this a certified PDF/A validator like veraPDF?

Accepted Answer

No — and it says so in every report. This is an honest subset inspired by veraPDF's rule categories: roughly 15 rule families covering identification, fonts, colour, transparency, forbidden content, structure and metadata mirroring. A COMPLIANT verdict means "passed every check in this subset", never "certified by an accredited lab". For archive-grade acceptance decisions, run the file through a certified validator as well.

Question 2

What do the three levels mean, and which should I pick?

Accepted Answer

Pick Auto and the level comes from the file's own XMP pdfaid:part — when the XMP says something else than you declared, the mismatch is reported honestly. -1b is the original 2005 archival level (no transparency, no embedded files, standard-14 fonts may stay unembedded); -2b (2011) allows transparency and JPEG2000; -3b (2012) additionally allows embedded files — that is how Factur-X/ZUGFeRD invoices work. Most archives ask for -1b or -2b.

Question 3

A warning appeared for the OutputIntent — is my file broken?

Accepted Answer

No. Many perfectly honest PDF/A producers omit the OutputIntent with an ICC profile, so that check is deliberately warning-level, not a failure: the document may still render identically everywhere. The /Info↔XMP mirror is warning-level for the same reason — the values the spec wants mirrored usually agree, and when they don't you get told exactly which key differs. Warnings never turn a COMPLIANT verdict into NOT COMPLIANT.

Question 4

Does the PDF/UA section mean my file is also checked for accessibility?

Accepted Answer

Only lightly, and it says so on every row: three advisory hints — MarkInfo /Marked (is the document tagged), the catalog /Lang, and an /Alt scan of the structure tree. These never affect the PDF/A verdict, and full PDF/UA validation (which has over a hundred rules of its own) is NOT performed here. Treat them as a quick accessibility smell-test, nothing more.

Question 5

Is my document safe? Where does this happen?

Accepted Answer

Entirely inside your browser — a Web Worker reads the raw bytes, walks the structure and runs every check on this device. Nothing is uploaded, no account, no queue; the downloadable report is generated in the same worker, on-device too.

Check PDF/A & PDF/UA

How it works

Frequently asked