Using and interpreting pdffonts

Question

For a fairly large (> 100 pages) document that I am writing, I have run pdffonts to check whether the fonts are suitably embedded. The output is as follows:

C:\>pdffonts main.pdf
name                                 type              emb sub uni object ID
------------------------------------ ----------------- --- --- --- ---------
PEUMGT+Utopia-Regular                Type 1C           yes yes no      10  0
QIAYNS+Utopia-Bold                   Type 1C           yes yes no       8  0
XUFKIZ+Utopia-Italic                 Type 1C           yes yes no      61  0
CVIUTI+Fourier-Math-Letters-Italic   Type 1C           yes yes no     270  0
YJVFRW+Fourier-Math-Symbols          Type 1C           yes yes yes    282  0
LPRTGE+Fourier-Math-Extension        Type 1C           yes yes yes    332  0
UYVFMY+Fourier-Math-Letters-Bold-Italic Type 1C           yes yes no     592  0

I have been using the \include{fourier} package so as to have the fourier fonts which I like a lot both for math and for regular use. I see from the font output table that I have some Utopia fonts as well which are from Adobe as mentioned in the fourier package documentation. I have three questions:

1. I would like to know what the "random" letters before the font name in the table means (e.g. on line one we have PEUMGT).

2. I would like to learn how to interpret the font output table better. In the last second to last column, we have in the final row the number 592. What does this mean?

3. Where can I find more information on the pdffonts command?

Answer 1

AFAICS, questions No. 1+2 have not yet been fully answered...

1.

'I would like to know what the "random" letters before the font name in the table means (e.g. on line one we have PEUMGT).'

• These letters are a prefix to the original fontname and they indicate that the font was embedded, but NOT as the full set of glyphs available for this font, but only as a subset. According to the PDF spec, the fontname prefix should indeed be random and unique when compared to other subset fontnames using the same full font.

2.

'I would like to learn how to interpret the font output table better. In the last second to last column, we have in the final row the number 592. What does this mean?'

• As Herbert already said, PDF files contain objects which are numbered (and have a "generation" sub-number, which in most cases is 0). If you want to look up the exact PDF code for the object 592 generation 0, you should search for the section in the PDF starting with the line 592 0 obj, ending with the line endobj. Everything in between defines this object. However, some other objects may be referenced: if you find strings saying 691 0 R you know to look for object 691, generation 0 now in the same way as you looked for object 592 initially.
• And if you want to know at which and at how many places in the PDF your 592 object is used, search for all occurences of 592 0 R...

Answer 2

from man pdffonts

DESCRIPTION
       Pdffonts lists the fonts used in a Portable Document Format (PDF) file along with various information for each font.
       The following information is listed for each font:
       name   the font name, exactly as given in the PDF file (potentially including a subset prefix)
       type   the font type -- see below for details
       emb    "yes" if the font is embedded in the PDF file
       sub    "yes" if the font is a subset
       uni    "yes"  if  there  is  an explicit "ToUnicode" map in the PDF file (the absence of a ToUnicode map doesn't necessarily
              mean that the text can't be converted to Unicode)
       object ID
              the font dictionary object ID (number and generation)
       PDF files can contain the following types of fonts:
              Type 1
              Type 1C -- aka Compact Font Format (CFF)
              Type 3
              TrueType
              CID Type 0 -- 16-bit font with no specified type
              CID Type 0C -- 16-bit PostScript CFF font
              CID TrueType -- 16-bit TrueType font