# PDF Fonts

List every font a PDF uses with our PDF Fonts tool. For each font you see its name, its type such as TrueType, Type 1 or CID, its encoding, whether it is embedded or only referenced, whether it is a subset and the pages where it appears. Printers, prepress teams, designers and PDF/A checkers use it to find missing fonts before a file goes to print, archive or another computer.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I see which fonts a PDF uses?

Upload the PDF and click List Fonts. The result is a table with one row per font, showing its name, type, encoding, whether it is embedded and subset, and the pages where it is used.

### What does embedded mean?

An embedded font is stored inside the PDF, so the document looks the same on every computer. A font that is not embedded is only named, and the viewer substitutes a font it has, which can change spacing and shapes. Print shops and PDF/A require embedded fonts.

### What is a subset font?

A subset holds only the characters the document actually uses, which keeps the file small. Its name starts with six capital letters and a plus sign, such as ABCDEF+Arial. The tool removes that prefix from the name and marks the font as a subset instead.

### Which font types can appear?

Common types are Type1, TrueType, Type3 and Type0. Type0 fonts are composite fonts for large character sets and are shown with their descendant type, such as Type0 (CIDFontType2) for TrueType based or Type0 (CIDFontType0) for CFF based fonts.

### What does the encoding column tell me?

It shows how character codes map to glyphs: a standard encoding such as WinAnsiEncoding or MacRomanEncoding, a CMap such as Identity-H for composite fonts, a standard encoding with differences, or built-in when the font uses its own internal encoding.

### Why are some standard fonts not embedded?

The 14 standard fonts, such as Helvetica, Times and Courier, are expected to be available in every PDF viewer, so many programs leave them out. They usually display fine, but PDF/A and many print workflows still require them to be embedded.

### How are the pages of a font determined?

A page counts when its resources, including the forms and stamps it draws, reference the font. A font that is declared on a page but never used for text on it can therefore still list that page.

### Why does the PDF show no fonts?

A PDF made from scans or with text converted to outlines contains no fonts at all, because its pages are pictures or vector shapes. Run text recognition first if you need selectable text.

### Why is the same font listed twice?

A PDF can embed the same font several times, for example once per merged document, or as different subsets. Identical rows are merged, but entries that differ in type, encoding or embedding stay separate so you can see each variant.

### What are the limits?

The PDF can be up to 10 MiB with at most 200 pages and 5,000 font objects. Password protected files open with the password you enter, which is never shown in the result.

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