René's URL Explorer Experiment

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","headline":"Characters doesn't display correctly when figure saved as pdf with a custom font","articleBody":"# Problem description:\r\n\r\nWhen using [a custom font](https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-han-serif/blob/release/SubsetOTF/CN/SourceHanSerifCN-Regular.otf), saving the figure as pdf format, and then opening the pdf with adobe reader (or many other pdf readers except [SumatraPDF](https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html)), some characters don't display correctly.\r\n\r\nI use windows 10 operating system. The font is for the Chinese language, and already install into `C:\\windows\\fonts`\r\n\r\n## Check the font\r\n\r\n```\r\nfrom matplotlib.font_manager import fontManager\r\nfor f in fontManager.ttflist:\r\n    if 'Source Han Serif' in f.name:\r\n        print(f.name, ' : ', f.fname)\r\n```\r\n\r\n**Output:**\r\n\r\n```\r\nSource Han Serif CN  :  C:\\Windows\\Fonts\\SourceHanSerifCN-Regular.otf\r\nSource Han Serif CN  :  C:\\Windows\\Fonts\\SourceHanSerifCN-Bold.otf\r\n```\r\n\r\n## Generate the figure\r\n\r\n**Code** (a minimal and fully example)\r\n```\r\nimport matplotlib.pyplot as plt\r\nfrom matplotlib.font_manager import FontProperties\r\nplt.text(0.5, 0.5, '图像', ha='center', va='center', \r\n         fontdict={'family': 'Source Han Serif CN', 'size': 18})\r\nplt.savefig('figure_with_font.pdf')\r\nplt.savefig('figure_with_font.png')\r\n```\r\n\r\nThere will be a warning message:\r\n```\r\n'SourceHanSerifCN-Regular.otf' cannot be subsetted into a Type 3 font. The entire font will be embedded in the output.\r\n```\r\n\r\nAnd the output in the notebook and the png format both displays correctly:\r\n![figure_with_font](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/4179106/47551637-5194cb00-d935-11e8-9a29-bef009f47ade.png)\r\n\r\nBut when open `figure_with_font.pdf` with \"adobe reader\", it displays like:\r\n![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/4179106/47551697-77ba6b00-d935-11e8-811f-ea8601836513.png)\r\n\r\nWhen I check the document properties, it seems like the font is already embedded in the pdf:\r\n![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/4179106/47551769-ad5f5400-d935-11e8-9f8c-3436a0198726.png)\r\n\r\nI've tried some other readers, only [Sumatra PDF](https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-reader.html) works.\r\n\r\n**I'm using: **\r\n\r\n1. Windows 10\r\n2. matplotlib: 3.0.0\r\n\r\n**And The output pdf file:**\r\n\r\n[figure_with_font.pdf](https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/files/2518262/figure_with_font.pdf)\r\n\r\n## Question:\r\n\r\n* Can matplotlib save a figure to pdf without embedding the font? Sometimes when saving thousands of figures, it will help to reduce the file size.\r\n* What's wrong with the pdf not displaying correctly?\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":{"url":"https://github.com/gepcel","@type":"Person","name":"gepcel"},"datePublished":"2018-10-26T07:56:43.000Z","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":"https://schema.org/CommentAction","userInteractionCount":13},"url":"https://github.com/12636/matplotlib/issues/12636"}