Cidfont F1 Normal Fixed

CIDToGIDMap (for Type 2 CIDFonts): Direct mapping or identity

Font Matrix: [1000 0 0 1000 0 0] (typical)

Bounding Box: Fixed for all glyphs (e.g., [-100 -300 1100 900])

Embeddable: Yes

Subsettable: Yes (for PDF optimization)

A standard font maps a character code (e.g., 0x41 for "A") directly to a glyph. That works for Latin alphabets (256 characters). But Japanese Kanji has over 6,000 common characters, and Chinese has tens of thousands. A simple 1-byte mapping is impossible.

Instead, a CIDFont uses a two-step process:

In a PDF dictionary, a CIDFont resource looks like this:

/F1 << /Type /Font
        /Subtype /CIDFontType2
        /BaseFont /HeiseiMin-W3
        /CIDSystemInfo << /Registry (Adobe) /Ordering (Japan1) /Supplement 5 >>
        /DW 1000
>>

That /DW key means "default width" – usually 1000 for em-based fonts. cidfont f1 normal fixed

Key takeaway: CIDFont is not a brand or a tool. It is a PDF font subtype (specifically CIDFontType0 for PostScript outlines or CIDFontType2 for TrueType outlines).

PDF repair tools sometimes report: /F1 – Invalid CIDSystemInfo – forcing to /Normal /Fixed

This is where CIDFont F1 shines. Because it is often a "base 14" font or a substituted CID font within a PDF renderer: CIDToGIDMap (for Type 2 CIDFonts): Direct mapping or

In practice, /F1 is often an alias for:

Fixed width ensures:

While the string itself is a shorthand or log output, it corresponds to a PDF structure like this: A standard font maps a character code (e

7 0 obj
<< /Type /Font
   /Subtype /Type0
   /BaseFont /f1
   /DescendantFonts [ << /Type /Font
                        /Subtype /CIDFontType2
                        /BaseFont /f1
                        /FontDescriptor 8 0 R
                     >> ]
>>
endobj
8 0 obj
<< /Type /FontDescriptor
   /FontName /f1
   /Flags 32         % Bit 5 (32) indicates Fixed Pitch
   /FontWeight /Normal
   /ItalicAngle 0
>>
endobj

| Part | Meaning | Typical values | |------|---------|----------------| | cidfont | Command/operator to load a CID-keyed font | cidfont, findcidfont | | f1 | Logical font name (often a local alias) | f1–f9, F1, Ryumin-Light, GothicBBB-Medium | | normal | Font style: upright (not italic/oblique) | normal, italic, oblique | | fixed | Spacing: fixed-pitch (monospaced) | fixed, proportional |

Note: In standard PostScript, the correct operator is findcidfont. The form cidfont f1 ... suggests a custom macro or wrapper (e.g., cidfont /f1 findcidfont ... ).

If you encounter problems with this string, check:

| Error message | Likely cause | Solution | |---------------|--------------|----------| | Error: undefinedresource --cidfont-- | No CIDFont named f1 exists in resource tree. | Define f1 via /f1 /CourierStd-CID findcidfont in prolog. | | RangeCheck error in cidfont | CIDFont is proportional, but fixed requested. | Use proportional instead, or embed a fixed-patch CIDFont. | | InvalidFont | The CIDFont lacks required metrics. | Recreate CIDFont with Adobe FDK or ttf2cid. |