Find and extract the fonts used in a PDF
Wondering which typeface a brochure uses, why a PDF prints with odd-looking letters, or whether a file is ready for the printer with all fonts embedded? The PDF Font Extractor lists every font in a PDF with its real name, font technology, encoding, the pages it appears on and whether it is embedded — and lets you save the embedded font files.
Embedded TrueType fonts are saved as .ttf, OpenType as .otf, compact CFF fonts as .cff, and PostScript Type 1 fonts are rebuilt into a standard .pfb file. Download them one by one or all together in a ZIP.
The PDF is read by your browser only; neither the document nor its fonts are uploaded. Please respect font licences: extracted fonts remain the property of their designers.
How to use the PDF Font Extractor
- Drop a PDF onto the upload area or click it to choose one.
- Review the summary: how many fonts there are, how many are embedded or missing, and how many are subsets.
- Check the table for each font’s name, type, encoding and the pages that use it.
- Press the download button next to an embedded font to save that file.
- Use “Download embedded fonts (ZIP)” to get every font file at once, together with a short licence reminder.
PDF Font Extractor features
Complete font inventory
Lists simple fonts, composite (Type 0) CID fonts and Type 3 fonts, with subset prefixes such as ABCDEF+ stripped for readability.
Embedding check
Shows which fonts are embedded and which rely on the viewer, including the 14 standard PDF fonts — useful for print preflight.
Right file format
FontFile2 becomes .ttf, FontFile3 becomes .otf or .cff, and Type 1 programs get proper PFB segment headers.
Byte-exact extraction
Font programs are decompressed and saved exactly as stored in the PDF, without re-encoding.
Encoding details
WinAnsi, MacRoman, custom Differences, Identity-H and embedded CMaps are reported, and fonts without a ToUnicode map are flagged.
Private
Everything runs locally in your browser — ideal for confidential documents.
Understanding the font types you’ll see
| Type | What it means | Saved as |
|---|---|---|
| TrueType | Outline font common on Windows and macOS | .ttf |
| Type1 | PostScript font; Type 1C is its compact CFF form | .pfb or .cff |
| Type0 / CID | Composite font for large character sets — Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indic scripts — usually with Identity-H encoding | .ttf, .cff or .otf |
| Type3 | Glyphs drawn with PDF graphics commands, often from TeX or scanned OCR | Not a font file |
| Not embedded | Only the name is stored; the viewer substitutes an installed or similar font | Nothing to save |
Subsets, licences and what extracted fonts are good for
To keep files small, PDF software usually embeds a subset: only the glyphs used in that document, marked with a six-letter prefix like EOODIA+Roboto. A subset often lacks most letters, may have no usable character map, and is rarely installable as a normal font. Its main value is identifying the typeface, checking how a document was produced, or recovering a font for the same document.
Fonts are licensed software. Most licences allow embedding in PDFs for viewing and printing, but not extracting the font for new projects. If you like a typeface you found this way, get it from its foundry or a legitimate free-font library.
Fixing font problems in PDFs
Printers and PDF/A archives require all fonts to be embedded. If the extractor shows “No” in the Embedded column, re-export the PDF from the original application with font embedding enabled. Fonts without a ToUnicode map often produce gibberish when text is copied — try PDF to Text to see what can be extracted. Fully embedded large fonts also inflate file size; the PDF Size Analyzer shows how much space they take.
PDF Font Extractor FAQ
How can I find out what font is used in a PDF?
Open the PDF in the PDF Font Extractor. Each font’s name is listed with the pages that use it. Subset prefixes such as “ABCDEF+” are removed, so you see the actual typeface name.
Can I extract a font from a PDF and install it?
You can save embedded font files, but they are usually subsets with only the characters used in that document, so they often don’t install or work as full fonts. Licences generally don’t permit reuse either.
Is it legal to extract fonts from a PDF?
Inspecting which fonts a document uses is fine. Using an extracted font for new work normally requires a licence from the font’s owner, so treat extracted files as reference material only.
Why can’t I download some fonts?
They are not embedded — the PDF only names the font and relies on your viewer to supply it. Type 3 fonts are drawn with graphics commands and have no font file either.
How do I check that all fonts are embedded before printing?
Look at the “Not embedded” count in the summary. It should be zero for print and PDF/A; the 14 standard fonts are also expected to be embedded by many printers.
Are my files uploaded?
No. The PDF is parsed and the fonts are extracted entirely in your browser.