PDF technical requirements for court e-filing
Every court's e-filing system publishes technical requirements for submitted PDFs. While rules vary, a core set of requirements appears across most federal and state systems:
Text-searchable: the PDF must contain a machine-readable text layer. Scanned image PDFs without OCR are rejected by most systems or returned for correction.
Page size: US Letter (8.5×11 inches) is the standard for federal courts and most state courts. A4 and Legal pages are the most common non-conforming sizes.
No encryption: password-protected PDFs cannot be processed by e-filing systems. The document must be accessible without a password.
File size limits vary widely: the federal CM/ECF system caps individual documents at 50 MB (as of its recent updates), but many state systems cap at 5–25 MB per document. Attachments may have separate limits.
Form field status: some systems require flattened PDFs with no active form fields. Others accept them. Check your specific court's rules.
PrepFile's E-Filing Checker runs these five checks advisorily. It does not certify compliance — local rules always control.
Open the tools — free, no upload
Verifying your PDF before filing
- Open the E-Filing Checker and drop in your PDF.
- Review each check result. Pass means the check passed; warn means it may be a problem depending on your court; fail means it will likely be rejected.
- Fix any fails: run OCR for searchability, re-export for page size, flatten for form fields, decrypt if encrypted, compress if oversized.
- Re-run the checker after each fix to confirm.
- Consult your court's local rules for any requirements beyond these five.
Questions
Do federal courts use PDF/A?
CM/ECF does not currently require PDF/A (as of mid-2026), though it accepts it. Some bankruptcy courts have specific guidance. Check your specific court's user guide.
What about color vs. black and white?
Most courts accept color PDFs. Some older state systems have bandwidth-related preferences for black and white scans. Check local rules if this is a concern.
What is the maximum file size for CM/ECF?
The default limit is 50 MB per document on most CM/ECF installations, but some courts have configured lower limits. Check your specific court's local rules or the CM/ECF user manual for that district.