Cidfont F1 Normal Fixed May 2026

In Ghostscript’s source file gs_cidfn.ps, you will find:

/CIDFont /F1 /Normal /Fixed

That is a built-in fallback for when no real CIDFont is available. It activates the “CIDFallback” mechanism with Normal registry/ordering.

Used in PDF / PostScript font dictionaries: cidfont f1 normal fixed

/F1 << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type0
      /BaseFont /Courier /Encoding /Identity-H
      /DescendantFonts [ /CIDFont /F1 ]
>>
/CIDFont /F1 << /Type /Font /Subtype /CIDFontType0
               /BaseFont /Courier
               /CIDSystemInfo << /Registry (Adobe) /Ordering (Identity) /Supplement 0 >>
               /DW 600   % Default width for all glyphs (fixed pitch)
               /W [ ... ]
            >>

/CIDFont /F1 /Norm refers to a CID-keyed font (Type 0) named /F1 with CMap name /Norm (normal orientation).
When paired with a fixed-pitch design, it means all glyphs have the same advance width.

The string "cidfont f1 normal fixed" is a resource selection directive typically found in: In Ghostscript’s source file gs_cidfn

It instructs the interpreter (e.g., Adobe PostScript RIP) to select a CIDFont resource named f1 with the style attributes normal (upright, non-italic, non-oblique) and fixed (fixed-pitch/monospaced).

If you see cidfont f1 normal fixed in your PDF viewer’s console: That is a built-in fallback for when no

When you print a document containing CIDFonts to a PostScript file, Distiller sometimes embeds a fallback definition:

/Distiller_CID_Fallback <<
  /CIDFont /F1
  /Normal /Fixed
>>

That tells the PostScript interpreter: “If you can’t find the requested CIDFont, use the Normal-Fixed fallback.”

Context: PostScript Language & PDF Architecture Category: Font Definitions / Descriptors