Accessibility Wiki

All fonts must be embedded

PDF/UA check CONTENT_FONT_EMBEDDING · Fonts & text encoding · severity Critical · PDF/UA 8.4.5.5 Embedding

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Why it matters

If fonts aren't embedded, text may display as squares or wrong characters on devices that don't have those fonts. Screen readers may also fail to extract the text correctly.

What you will see

One or more fonts are referenced but not embedded, so the document depends on the reader's machine having them installed.

How to fix

Embed the font program (full or subset) for every font used to render text, so each font descriptor carries a FontFile, FontFile2, or FontFile3 stream. Re-export from the source application with font embedding enabled, or in Acrobat run Print Production > Preflight > 'Embed missing fonts'.

Step-by-step guide

  1. List the unembedded fonts: File > Properties > Fonts - any font not marked (Embedded) or (Embedded Subset) fails, and the EQChecker report names the offending BaseFont values.
  2. Preferred fix: re-export from the source application with font embedding enabled (Word: File > Options > Save > Embed fonts in the file; InDesign and most publishing tools embed on PDF export subject to the font license).
  3. In Acrobat: open All tools > Use print production > Preflight, switch to the fixups list, and run the Embed missing fonts fixup. The fonts must be installed on your system and licensed for embedding for the fixup to succeed.
  4. If a font is unavailable or its license forbids embedding, substitute an embeddable font in the source document and re-export - PDF/UA-2 8.4.5.5 only permits font programs that are legally embeddable for unlimited, universal rendering.
  5. Confirm every font descriptor now carries a FontFile, FontFile2, or FontFile3 stream: File > Properties > Fonts should show every font as Embedded or Embedded Subset.

Verify: Re-run the EQChecker scan and confirm CONTENT_FONT_EMBEDDING passes with no fonts listed. Acrobat Preflight verification with a PDF/UA profile should show no embedding errors (the basic accessibility checker does not test embedding).

Note: Subset embedding is fine as long as the subset defines every glyph referenced in the file. The standard exempts fonts used exclusively in text rendering mode 3 (invisible text, e.g. OCR layers) - but EQChecker cannot see rendering modes and flags any font descriptor without a FontFile stream, so embed OCR-layer fonts too. There is no exemption for the Standard 14 fonts: PDF/UA (both -1 and -2) requires embedding for every rendered font.

Fixing it in your authoring tool

Tool Steps
Adobe Acrobat Pro Check File → Properties → Fonts; any face not marked "Embedded" or "Embedded Subset" must be fixed at export time.
Adobe InDesign Export → Advanced → set Subset Fonts When Percent Of Characters Used Is Less Than: 100%.
Microsoft Word File → Options → Save → Embed fonts in the file.

WCAG success criteria

No WCAG success criterion maps cleanly to this check — it is a PDF/UA structural requirement. The PDF/UA clause above is the normative reference.

Standards

This check contributes to the following standards:

PDF/UA

Standard Criteria
PDF/UA-2 (ISO 14289-2:2024) 8.4.5.5 Embedding