---
title: PdfConverter
summary: API reference for PdfConverter.
status: draft
owner: SAIF Doc Gen
last_reviewed: 2026-09-17
library: PdfAPI.SyncFusionCore
reference_type: package
---

# PdfConverter

`PdfConverter` is the [BaseConverter](../PdfAPI.Core.Convert/BaseConverter.md) subclass selected by `ConverterFactory` for `.pdf` source files. Unlike the other seven converters, its source and target formats are the same: it either passes a plain PDF through unchanged, or upgrades it to PDF/A conformance when requested.

## Purpose
- Pass a plain (non-PDF/A) PDF through unchanged when no conformance upgrade is requested
  ([BR-SFC-003](../../business-rules.md#br-sfc-003-extension-to-converter-mapping), [BR-SFC-021](../../business-rules.md#br-sfc-021-plain-pdf-returned-unchanged)).
- Upgrade a PDF to PDF/A conformance via a reload-and-resave pass when requested
  ([BR-SFC-020](../../business-rules.md#br-sfc-020-pdf%2Fa-applied-via-reload-and-resave)).
- Identify itself to `ConverterFactory` and downstream consumers as the `Pdf` conversion type.

## Context
- Namespace: `PdfAPI.SyncFusionCore`
- Assembly/package: `PdfAPI.SyncFusionCore` (`Pdf.Local.Client` NuGet package)

## Public members
| Member | Signature | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PdfConverter | `PdfConverter()` | Creates a ready-to-use `PdfConverter` instance for `ConverterFactory` to invoke against PDF source documents (`.pdf`), notably for the PDF/A normalization pass; the constructor body is empty*, so no state is established beyond the base type's fields. |
| ConversionType | `override SourceConversionType ConversionType { get; }` | Returns `SourceConversionType.Pdf`, identifying this converter's source format to `ConverterFactory` and to the assembled `PdfResult`. |

## Inherited public members

Members in this section are inherited from `BaseConverter` in `PdfAPI.SyncFusionCore`. They are available on this type through inheritance.

| Member | Signature | Purpose | Origin |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Convert | `PdfResult Convert(Stream stream, ConvertRequest request)` | Executes the full conversion: times the operation, invokes `ConfigureConverter` and `ConvertItem`, and assembles a `PdfResult` with `Status`, `Elapsed`, and `PdfProcessorType = Syncfusion`; captures rather than propagates conversion exceptions ([BR-SFC-006](../../business-rules.md#br-sfc-006-result-stamped-syncfusion-processor), [BR-SFC-010](../../business-rules.md#br-sfc-010-conversion-exceptions-captured-not-rethrown)). | `PdfAPI.SyncFusionCore` — `BaseConverter` |

## Behavioral notes
- The output format on the result reflects whether a PDF/A upgrade was requested, not merely
  whether the input was already PDF/A ([BR-SFC-008](../../business-rules.md#br-sfc-008-output-format-reflects-pdf%2Fa-option)).
- The PDF/A upgrade path reloads the already-saved output as a `PdfLoadedDocument`, sets its
  conformance level, and saves again — the same two-pass pattern used by extraction and merge ([BR-SFC-020](../../business-rules.md#br-sfc-020-pdf%2Fa-applied-via-reload-and-resave)).
- A conversion failure is captured by the inherited `Convert` method and reported through the
  result rather than thrown ([BR-SFC-010](../../business-rules.md#br-sfc-010-conversion-exceptions-captured-not-rethrown)).

## Constraints and usage notes
- Not intended to be constructed directly by application code; `ConverterFactory` constructs and
  invokes it based on the source file extension.

## Related documentation
- [API reference](../index.md)
- [Operations and processes](../../operations-processes.md)
- [Business rules](../../business-rules.md)

> **Note:** Statements marked with * were inferred from code structure, naming conventions, or
> contextual evidence where direct confirmation was not available in source artifacts.

## Sources
- `PdfApi.SyncFusionCore\Convert\PdfConverter.cs`