diff --git a/DocumentOperator.Infrastructure/Services/PdfProcessing/DevExpressPdfProcessor.cs b/DocumentOperator.Infrastructure/Services/PdfProcessing/DevExpressPdfProcessor.cs
index 372b6c3..0b296f6 100644
--- a/DocumentOperator.Infrastructure/Services/PdfProcessing/DevExpressPdfProcessor.cs
+++ b/DocumentOperator.Infrastructure/Services/PdfProcessing/DevExpressPdfProcessor.cs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ public class DevExpressPdfProcessor : IPdfProcessor
     /// <param name="pdfStream">PDF content as stream (caller is responsible for disposal)</param>
     /// <returns>PDF metadata (page count, file size, version, etc.)</returns>
     /// <exception cref="BadRequestException">Thrown when stream is empty or invalid</exception>
-    public async Task<Application.Common.DTOs.PdfMetadata> ValidateAsync(Stream pdfStream)
+    public async Task<Application.Common.DTOs.PdfValidationResult> ValidateAsync(Stream pdfStream)
     {
         // 1. Input Validation
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(pdfStream, nameof(pdfStream));
@@ -73,13 +73,18 @@ public class DevExpressPdfProcessor : IPdfProcessor
         // We scan PDF raw data for "/EmbeddedFiles" and parse the name tree to get count.
         var (hasAttachments, attachmentCount) = DetectEmbeddedFiles(pdfBytes);
 
-        // 5. Create and return PdfMetadata DTO
-        return new Application.Common.DTOs.PdfMetadata(
-            pageCount: pageCount,
-            fileSizeBytes: pdfBytes.Length,
-            pdfVersion: pdfVersion,
-            hasAttachments: hasAttachments,
-            attachmentCount: attachmentCount
+        // Check encryption (scan PDF raw data for /Encrypt keyword)
+        bool isEncrypted = DetectEncryption(pdfBytes);
+
+        // 5. Create and return PdfValidationResult
+        return new Application.Common.DTOs.PdfValidationResult(
+            PageCount: pageCount,
+            FileSizeBytes: pdfBytes.Length,
+            FileSizeMB: pdfBytes.Length / 1024.0 / 1024.0,
+            PdfVersion: pdfVersion,
+            HasAttachments: hasAttachments,
+            AttachmentCount: attachmentCount,
+            IsEncrypted: isEncrypted
         );
     }
 
@@ -89,7 +94,7 @@ public class DevExpressPdfProcessor : IPdfProcessor
     /// <param name="pdfStream">PDF content as stream (caller is responsible for disposal)</param>
     /// <returns>PDF/A metadata including conformance level and validation errors/warnings</returns>
     /// <exception cref="BadRequestException">Thrown when stream is empty or invalid</exception>
-    public async Task<PdfAMetadata> ValidatePdfAAsync(Stream pdfStream)
+    public async Task<PdfAValidationResult> ValidatePdfAAsync(Stream pdfStream)
     {
         // 1. Input Validation
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(pdfStream, nameof(pdfStream));
@@ -162,18 +167,19 @@ public class DevExpressPdfProcessor : IPdfProcessor
         // 8. Determine overall validity
         bool isValid = errors.Count == 0;
 
-        // 9. Create and return PdfAMetadata DTO
-        return new PdfAMetadata(
-            isValid: isValid,
-            pdfVersion: pdfVersion,
-            pageCount: pageCount,
-            fileSizeBytes: pdfBytes.Length,
-            encrypted: encrypted,
-            pdfaVersion: pdfaVersion,
-            pdfaCompliant: isPdfACompliant,
-            errors: errors,
-            warnings: warnings
-        );
+        // 9. Create and return PdfAValidationResult
+        return new PdfAValidationResult
+        {
+            IsValid = isValid,
+            PdfVersion = pdfVersion,
+            PageCount = pageCount,
+            FileSize = pdfBytes.Length,
+            Encrypted = encrypted,
+            PdfAVersion = pdfaVersion,
+            PdfACompliant = isPdfACompliant,
+            Errors = errors,
+            Warnings = warnings
+        };
     }
 
     #endregion
@@ -655,14 +661,108 @@ public class DevExpressPdfProcessor : IPdfProcessor
     #region Private Helpers
 
     /// <summary>
-    /// Detects if PDF is encrypted by scanning for /Encrypt keyword.
+    /// Detects if a PDF is encrypted by scanning the PDF trailer/xref section for an /Encrypt dictionary reference.
+    ///
+    /// Why NOT use Encoding.ASCII.GetString():
+    ///   - Binary PDFs contain bytes 0x80–0xFF which ASCII decoding maps to '?' (0x3F), corrupting data.
+    ///   - A string search on corrupted data can produce both false positives and false negatives.
+    ///
+    /// This implementation searches the raw bytes directly, which is safe for all PDF variants
+    /// (binary, linearized, cross-reference stream PDFs).
+    ///
+    /// According to the PDF specification (ISO 32000), the /Encrypt entry only appears in the
+    /// document's trailer dictionary. Searching only the last ~2KB (where the trailer lives)
+    /// eliminates false positives from document content that might contain the literal text "/Encrypt".
+    ///
+    /// Limitation: Cross-reference stream PDFs (PDF 1.5+) embed the trailer inline in a compressed
+    /// stream object. In those cases the raw /Encrypt bytes may not appear in the trailer section,
+    /// so we fall back to searching the entire file. This is still byte-level and therefore safe.
     /// </summary>
     private static bool DetectEncryption(byte[] pdfBytes)
     {
-        string pdfText = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(pdfBytes);
-        return pdfText.Contains("/Encrypt", StringComparison.Ordinal);
+        // The byte sequence we are looking for (ASCII, safe because PDF keywords are always ASCII)
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> encryptKeyword = "/Encrypt"u8;
+
+        // Strategy 1: Search only the last 2 KB (trailer area).
+        // The PDF trailer dictionary is always near the end of the file and contains
+        // /Encrypt only when the document is encrypted. This avoids false positives
+        // from document content.
+        int trailerSearchStart = Math.Max(0, pdfBytes.Length - 2048);
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> trailerRegion = pdfBytes.AsSpan(trailerSearchStart);
+
+        if (ContainsByteSequence(trailerRegion, encryptKeyword))
+            return true;
+
+        // Strategy 2: Some PDF generators (e.g. linearized PDFs) place the trailer
+        // at the beginning of the file as well. Search the first 2 KB.
+        int headerSearchEnd = Math.Min(2048, pdfBytes.Length);
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> headerRegion = pdfBytes.AsSpan(0, headerSearchEnd);
+
+        if (ContainsByteSequence(headerRegion, encryptKeyword))
+            return true;
+
+        // Strategy 3: Full-file fallback for cross-reference stream PDFs (PDF 1.5+).
+        // In these files the xref/trailer is a compressed stream object that can appear
+        // anywhere. We scan the entire file but require that /Encrypt is followed by
+        // a space or '<' (start of dictionary), which rules out arbitrary text matches.
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> fullFile = pdfBytes.AsSpan();
+        int idx = 0;
+        while (idx <= pdfBytes.Length - encryptKeyword.Length)
+        {
+            int found = IndexOf(fullFile.Slice(idx), encryptKeyword);
+            if (found == -1)
+                break;
+
+            int absolutePos = idx + found;
+            int afterKeyword = absolutePos + encryptKeyword.Length;
+
+            // Verify the character after /Encrypt is a PDF structural character,
+            // not part of a longer token (e.g. "/Encrypted" should not match).
+            if (afterKeyword < pdfBytes.Length)
+            {
+                byte next = pdfBytes[afterKeyword];
+                // Valid PDF token terminators: space (0x20), newline, tab, '<', '/', '['
+                if (next == 0x20 || next == 0x0A || next == 0x0D || next == 0x09 ||
+                    next == 0x3C || next == 0x2F || next == 0x5B)
+                {
+                    return true;
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                // /Encrypt is the very last token in the file
+                return true;
+            }
+
+            idx = absolutePos + 1;
+        }
+
+        return false;
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Returns the index of <paramref name="needle"/> within <paramref name="haystack"/>,
+    /// or -1 if not found. Operates entirely on raw bytes — no string allocation.
+    /// </summary>
+    private static int IndexOf(ReadOnlySpan<byte> haystack, ReadOnlySpan<byte> needle)
+    {
+        if (needle.IsEmpty) return 0;
+        if (haystack.Length < needle.Length) return -1;
+
+        for (int i = 0; i <= haystack.Length - needle.Length; i++)
+        {
+            if (haystack.Slice(i, needle.Length).SequenceEqual(needle))
+                return i;
+        }
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Returns true if <paramref name="haystack"/> contains <paramref name="needle"/> as a byte subsequence.
+    /// </summary>
+    private static bool ContainsByteSequence(ReadOnlySpan<byte> haystack, ReadOnlySpan<byte> needle)
+        => IndexOf(haystack, needle) >= 0;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Detects PDF/A conformance level by scanning PDF metadata.
     /// PDF/A documents contain an XMP metadata stream with pdfaid:conformance and pdfaid:part.