Alla ricerca della soluzione definitiva al problema dell’obsolescenza dei formati elettronici. Lo standard ISO 19005–3 (PDF/A–3)

With the publication of the iso 19005–3:2012 standard on October 15, 2012, the International Organization for Standardization (iso) officially recognized the pdf/a–3 file format as the new standard for long–term digital preservation. This file format seems to be a good candidate as the definitive format, suitable for storing and long–term preservation of various types of documents. However, it has not failed to give rise to a broad debate; on the one hand, it has been widely accepted and has been proposed as the definitive file format for the preservation of digital documents, on the other hand it has been criticized and has been seen as an evolution of pdf/a format that betrays the original intent that led to its proposal. A few years after the publication of the standard, this article wants to conduct a smooth and balanced analysis of the format, exploring its real potential and trying to figure out if and to what extent it can contribute to the solution of at least one of the digital preservation problems, that of obsolescence of electronic formats