Are DigiLocker documents legally valid?

Under rules notified under the IT Act, documents issued through DigiLocker are treated as on par with original physical documents. Whether a specific recruitment or admission accepts them at a given stage is up to that organisation, so check the notice.

What is the difference between issued and uploaded documents in DigiLocker?

Issued documents come directly from the issuing authority and are digitally signed. Uploaded documents are files you scanned and added yourself.

How do I download a mark sheet from DigiLocker as PDF?

Log in, open Issued Documents or search for your board, fetch the mark sheet with your roll number and year, then open it and use the download option.

Why is my DigiLocker PDF so small?

Issued documents are generated as text, not scanned images, so they are naturally small. That usually makes them ideal for upload limits.

Should I compress a DigiLocker PDF?

Only if it is bigger than the limit. Compressing turns pages into images and the digital signature cannot be verified in the copy, so keep the original.

DigiLocker documents: how to download and use them in forms

Updated 11 October 2026

Compress PDF to any size →

DigiLocker is the Government of India's digital document wallet. If your mark sheets, driving licence or Aadhaar are available there, you can download clean, official PDFs in seconds, which are often far better for online forms than a phone photo of a laminated card.

What is DigiLocker?

DigiLocker is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the Digital India programme. You sign up with your mobile number and link your Aadhaar, and the app or website at digilocker.gov.in then lets you fetch documents directly from the organisations that issued them.

Issued documents vs uploaded documents

This distinction matters a lot:

	Issued documents	Uploaded documents
Where they come from	Pulled directly from the issuing authority's records, such as a board, university, transport department or UIDAI	Files you scanned and uploaded yourself
Authenticity	Digitally signed by the issuer	Only as trustworthy as your own copy
Typical use	Can be accepted as the document itself where the receiving organisation accepts DigiLocker	Personal storage, a convenient backup

Common issued documents include Aadhaar, PAN verification records, driving licence and vehicle registration from participating states, CBSE and many state board mark sheets and certificates, and degrees from universities connected to the system. What is available depends on whether your issuer has joined, so search inside the app.

Legal validity

Under rules notified under the Information Technology Act, documents issued through DigiLocker are treated as on par with the original physical documents. Various departments and regulators have also issued circulars accepting DigiLocker documents. That said, whether a particular recruitment body or college accepts a DigiLocker PDF at a particular stage is up to that body, so check your notice. Many notices simply ask for a PDF of the certificate, and a DigiLocker download is a clean way to provide it.

How to download a document as PDF

Log in to the DigiLocker app or website.
Go to Issued Documents. If the document is not there, use Search to find the issuer (for example your state board) and fetch it by entering details such as roll number and year.
Open the document and choose the download option. It is saved as a PDF.
Open the downloaded file once to make sure it is complete and readable.

Menu names change from time to time, so if a step looks different, the DigiLocker help section on the website has the current flow.

Size tips: why DigiLocker PDFs usually fit

Most issued documents are generated by computer, not scanned, so they contain text rather than a page photo. That makes them small, often well under 200 KB for a one-page certificate. Some include a photo, QR code or background artwork that adds size.

If the file already fits the limit, upload it as it is. Do not compress or "print" it unnecessarily.
If it is too big, use Compress PDF. Be aware that our tool redraws pages as images, so the text and digital signature will no longer be machine-verifiable in the compressed copy. Keep the original for later verification.
If the form needs a JPG, convert with PDF to JPG, then resize with Compress Image.
If the form needs several documents in one PDF, convert each to an image and combine with JPG to PDF, keeping to a per-page budget as explained in combining JPGs into a PDF.

Worked example

A university admission portal wants your Class 12 mark sheet as one PDF of 50 to 150 KB. The CBSE mark sheet you download from DigiLocker is 92 KB, one page. It is already inside the range, so upload it directly. A state board mark sheet downloads at 410 KB because it includes a colour background. Compressing it to medium quality brings it to around 120 KB, inside the range, and the original 410 KB file stays on the phone for document verification.

Password-protected downloads

Some documents, notably e-Aadhaar from the UIDAI website, come password protected. Portals often cannot open locked PDFs. See PDF basics for what to do with a locked PDF.

Good practice

Fetch documents well before a deadline. Issuer servers can be slow during admission season.
Check your name spelling and date of birth match across documents; mismatches cause more trouble than file sizes.
Do not share your DigiLocker login or OTP with cyber cafes or agents. Download the PDF yourself and hand over only the file, if you must.
Remember the tools on this site run in your browser, so documents you compress here are not uploaded anywhere.

Questions people ask

Are DigiLocker documents legally valid?: Under rules notified under the IT Act, documents issued through DigiLocker are treated as on par with original physical documents. Whether a specific recruitment or admission accepts them at a given stage is up to that organisation, so check the notice.
What is the difference between issued and uploaded documents in DigiLocker?: Issued documents come directly from the issuing authority and are digitally signed. Uploaded documents are files you scanned and added yourself.
How do I download a mark sheet from DigiLocker as PDF?: Log in, open Issued Documents or search for your board, fetch the mark sheet with your roll number and year, then open it and use the download option.
Why is my DigiLocker PDF so small?: Issued documents are generated as text, not scanned images, so they are naturally small. That usually makes them ideal for upload limits.
Should I compress a DigiLocker PDF?: Only if it is bigger than the limit. Compressing turns pages into images and the digital signature cannot be verified in the copy, so keep the original.