diff --git a/source/texk/web2c/luatexdir/font/dofont.c b/source/texk/web2c/luatexdir/font/dofont.c
index b23368d83..42528c719 100644
--- a/source/texk/web2c/luatexdir/font/dofont.c
+++ b/source/texk/web2c/luatexdir/font/dofont.c
@@ -81,12 +81,19 @@ static int do_define_font(int f, const char *cnom, scaled s, int natural_dir)
             set_skew_char(f, default_skew_char_par);
         }
     }
-    if (font_name(f) && strlen(font_name(f)) > 255) {
+    if (get_o_mode() == OMODE_DVI &&
+        font_name(f) && strlen(font_name(f)) > 255) {
         /*tex
 
             The font name has to fit in the dvi file's single byte storage. There
             is no need to test area, as we are never using it.
         */
+        const char *help[] = {
+            "Font name is too long to fit in DVI font name storage,"
+            "it should be 255 characters at most.",
+            NULL
+        };
+        tex_error("Too long font name", help);
         res = 0;
     }
     if (res) {