Java: Change PDF Version

PDF is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992, and during the years, it has undergone a lot of changes. Sometimes you may find that some devices have strict requirements on the PDF version. In such a case, it's necessary to change the PDF file to a different version for compatibility purpose. This article will show how to programmatically change the PDF version using Spire.PDF for Java.

Install Spire.PDF for Java

First of all, you're required to add the Spire.Pdf.jar file as a dependency in your Java program. The JAR file can be downloaded from this link. If you use Maven, you can easily import the JAR file in your application by adding the following code to your project's pom.xml file.

<repositories>
    <repository>
        <id>com.e-iceblue</id>
        <name>e-iceblue</name>
        <url>https://repo.e-iceblue.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>
    </repository>
</repositories>
<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>e-iceblue</groupId>
        <artifactId>spire.pdf</artifactId>
        <version>10.10.7</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>
    

Change PDF Version

Spire.PDF for Java supports the PDF versions from 1.0 to 1.7. The following are the detailed steps to change the PDF version.

• Create a PdfDocument object.
• Load a sample PDF file using PdfDocument.loadFromFile() method.
• Change the PDF file to another version using PdfDocument.getFileInfo().setVersion() method.
• Save the document to another file using PdfDocument.saveToFile() method.

import com.spire.pdf.*;

public class ChangePdfVersion {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        //Create a PdfDocument object
        PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();

        //Load a sample PDF file
        document.loadFromFile("sample.pdf");

        //Change the PDF to version 1.5
        document.getFileInfo().setVersion(PdfVersion.Version_1_5);

        //Save to file
        document.saveToFile("PdfVersion.pdf", FileFormat.PDF);
        document.close();
    }
}

Apply for a Temporary License

If you'd like to remove the evaluation message from the generated documents, or to get rid of the function limitations, please request a 30-day trial license for yourself.