PDF Version Support

PDF comes in the following versions:

  • 1993: 1.0

  • 1994: 1.1

  • 1996: 1.2

  • 1999: 1.3

  • 2001: 1.4

  • 2003: 1.5

  • 2004: 1.6

  • 2008: 1.7, ISO 32000-1:2008

  • 2017: 2.0, ISO 32000-2:2017

The general format didn’t change, but new features got added. It can be that pypdf can do the operations you want on PDF 2.0 files without fully supporting all features of PDF 2.0.

PDF Feature Support by pypdf

Feature

PDF Version

pypdf Support

CMaps

1.4

✅

Transparent Graphics

1.4

✅

Content Stream Compression

1.5

✅

Cross-reference Streams

1.5

❓

Object Streams

1.5

✅

Optional Content Groups (OCGs)

1.5

❓

AES Encryption

1.6

✅

See History of PDF for more features.

Some PDF features are not supported by pypdf, but other libraries can be used for them: