What Is Hybrid Archiving? Addition to PDF/A-3
A short addition to our PDF series
- PDF/A - The Format of the Future - Part 1: PDF/A-1
- PDF/A - The Format of the Future - Part 2: PDF/A-2
- PDF/A - The Format of the Future - Part 3: PDF/A-3
As the PDF Association explains, PDF/A-3 enables what is often called "hybrid archiving." This means combining digital and analog storage methods. In addition to fully digital storage, analog media such as microfilm can be used as a backup layer.
Hybrid archiving ensures that information and documents remain accessible through digital networks while also being secured on analog media for recovery scenarios, for example in the event of data loss.
PDF/A-3 format for hybrid archiving
The PDF/A standards continue to add capabilities, and PDF/A-3 is especially relevant for hybrid archiving scenarios. It allows embedding non-PDF/A files and can act as an archive container for multiple source types.
This includes use cases such as handling scans more effectively and securely archiving email, including attachments. PDF/A-3 also supports embedding non-conforming file types like CSV, XML, and Office documents.