ForHosting KIT · Documents & PDF

Convert PDF to PDF/A

Regular PDFs quietly depend on things outside the file: system fonts, external color profiles, live JavaScript that may not exist in twenty years. The PDF to PDF/A API rewrites a document into the ISO 19005 archival profile, embedding everything it needs to open correctly on a machine that has not been invented yet.

● BetaPer request + per page$0.042

Run — $0.042 + $0.0025/page How it works & API

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Run it online

Run this on our servers with your account. Free tools run in your browser; this one bills your KIT balance per the price above.

Why an ordinary PDF is not archive-safe

A PDF opened today on your laptop looks fine because your laptop happens to have the right font installed, the right color management running, and a viewer that ignores whatever scripting the file carries. None of that is guaranteed to survive a decade, let alone the fifty or hundred years a court record, a patent file, or a public archive is expected to last. PDF/A was built precisely to close that gap: it forbids external dependencies, forces every font to travel inside the file, and strips the interactive features that make long-term rendering unpredictable.

Who actually needs this conversion

Government archives, courts, universities, banks, and any organization under a records-retention mandate are the classic audience, but the need shows up anywhere a document has to remain readable long after the software that produced it is gone. Publishers submitting to institutional repositories, engineering firms archiving as-built drawings, and companies closing out a legal matter all end up needing a conversion pipeline rather than a person clicking Save As in a desktop tool for every file.

What the endpoint does with your file

You POST the source PDF to /pdf/to-pdfa and the call returns a task_id immediately, since conversion runs asynchronously in the background. The engine embeds every font referenced by the document, converts color spaces to a device-independent profile, attaches the required XMP metadata that identifies the file as conformant, and removes constructs PDF/A does not allow, such as embedded audio or encryption. When it finishes, the compliant file lands at your signed webhook or a signed link good for 24 hours.

A brief note on the standard itself

PDF/A was first published in 2005 by AIIM and later standardized as ISO 19005, growing through parts A-1 through A-4 to cover newer PDF features like layers and file attachments while keeping the same core promise: what you archive today should open identically in the distant future. That promise is exactly what this endpoint automates, one document at a time or across an entire batch.

Where this fits in a pipeline

Because delivery is asynchronous and results arrive by webhook, the endpoint slots naturally into an intake process: scan or receive a document, convert it to PDF/A the moment it enters your system, and store the compliant version instead of retrofitting archives years later. Access requires prepaid balance, which keeps the service predictable and abuse-free; pricing is a flat $0.042 per request plus $0.0025 per page, with no tokens or invented credits to track. Note: this endpoint is in final deployment and will begin accepting jobs shortly.

What you can do with it

Court and legal record filing

A law firm converts every exhibit and filed brief to PDF/A before submission, meeting court archival requirements without a paralegal manually checking each file.

Institutional repository ingestion

A university library runs incoming theses and research papers through the endpoint so every deposit in its repository meets long-term preservation standards automatically.

Records-retention compliance

A bank converts closed-account statements and signed agreements to PDF/A as part of its retention pipeline, satisfying regulatory archival rules at the point of intake.

Engineering as-built archives

An engineering firm archives final drawing sets in PDF/A so a project reopened decades later still renders exactly as it did the day it was closed.

FAQ

How do I convert a PDF to PDF/A using an API?

Send a POST to /pdf/to-pdfa with your file. The pdf to pdfa api returns a task_id right away and delivers the ISO-compliant file to your webhook or a signed link once conversion finishes.

Is this API free to use?

There's no free tier — free tiers get abused and slow everyone down. Access runs on a prepaid ForHosting KIT balance: top up from $10.00 (it never expires) and each request is charged at its published price, so a call with no balance returns HTTP 402. No subscription, no tokens, no invented credits, and a failed task is never charged.

Is the API live right now?

The endpoint is in final deployment and not yet accepting jobs, but it is publishing its pricing and behavior now so it is ready to use the moment it opens.

Which PDF/A part does the conversion target?

The engine targets the widely required conformance levels used for archival filing, embedding fonts, converting color, and attaching the mandatory metadata that identifies a file as PDF/A.

Will converting to PDF/A change how my document looks?

Visually, no. The layout, text, and images stay the same; what changes is what travels inside the file, such as embedded fonts and color profiles, plus removal of features PDF/A forbids, like JavaScript or encryption.

Can I convert a scanned PDF to PDF/A?

Yes. Scanned image PDFs can be converted, though PDF/A compliance addresses the file's structure and embedded resources, not whether the page contains a searchable text layer.

Can I batch-convert many PDFs to PDF/A?

Yes. Each document is its own POST and the tasks run independently, so you can submit a large batch and receive each compliant file by webhook as it finishes.

What happens to my file after conversion?

The source and the result are deleted after the retention window and are never used for training. Delivery is via signed webhook or a signed link valid for 24 hours.

For developers — API access

Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.

API endpoint

POSThttps://api.kit.forhosting.com/pdf/to-pdfa

Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, and soon from our app, email and Telegram.

Call it from your stack

curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/pdf/to-pdfa \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d &#39;{"pdf":"https://ejemplo.com/documento.pdf"}'

const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/pdf/to-pdfa", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "pdf": "https://ejemplo.com/documento.pdf"
  })
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();

import os, requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/pdf/to-pdfa",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ[&#39;KIT_KEY']}"},
    json={
    "pdf": "https://ejemplo.com/documento.pdf"
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]

<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/pdf/to-pdfa", false, stream_context_create([
  "http" => [
    "method"  => "POST",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
    "content" => &#39;{"pdf":"https://ejemplo.com/documento.pdf"}',
  ],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);

body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"pdf":"https://ejemplo.com/documento.pdf"}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/pdf/to-pdfa", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

Example request

{
  "pdf": "https://ejemplo.com/documento.pdf"
}

Example response

{
  "task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
  "type": "pdf.to_pdfa",
  "status": "queued",
  "_links": {
    "result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
  }
}

The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.

Pricing

Per request$0.042

Per page$0.0025

Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.

Limits

`max_mb`	25
`max_pages`	200

Errors

HTTP	Code	Meaning
`401`	`unauthorized`	Missing or invalid API key.
`402`	`insufficient_balance`	Your balance doesn't cover the task price.
`404`	`unknown_type`	That task type doesn't exist.
`429`	`rate_limited`	Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling.
`413`	`input_too_large`	The file exceeds the size limit.

Read the full KIT documentation →