Type3 bitmap fonts look much worse on most output devices than properly-hinted Type1 fonts. Type3 fonts also can cause problems with PDF interpreters in printers, which sometimes no longer implement all aspects of the Type3 language correctly. Type3 fonts were once a hack that seems no longer widely used outside the TeX community, and therefore are now less well tested and supported by device manufacturers. Type3 bitmap fonts seem an anachronism from the 1980s, when it was customary to output DVI files using Metafont-generated device-specific bitmaps, and when there were only a small number of standard output resolutions in use. Today, I find that in nearly all cases where I encounter pdftex-generated documents with Type3 bitmap fonts, these were actually selected by an inexperienced author by accident, (often as a result of copying a line such as \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} without understanding its font-selection implications). Suggestion: it would be useful to actively discourage in pdftex the use of Type3 fonts. This could be done in steps, e.g.: - initially just output a warning that prominently lists any Type3 fonts used in the PDF produced (plus add an "I know what I do and really want Type3" command-line override option to suppress that warning) - later turn that warning into an error, such that Type3 fonts can now only be included into PDFs using the "I know what I do and really want Type3" command-line option, to make sure they only appear in PDFs as a deliberate choice by an experienced author. [The idea is similar to how HTTPS browsers like Chrome or Firefox gradually added warnings to phase out outdated cryptography.] If Type3 fonts generated a clear warning, this would make it much easier for the authors of document-submission guidelines to tell PDF authors what they need to avoid. At the moment, such guidelines have to rely on more complex instructions to check font types with e.g. pdffonts file.pdf | grep 'Type 3' Markus -- Markus Kuhn, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ || CB3 0FD, Great Britain