Re: Issue 103602 in chromium: Chrome-generated PDFs have large file size

[chro...@googlecode.com]

Updates:
Status: Untriaged

Comment #2 on issue 103602 by d...@chromium.org: Chrome-generated PDFs have
large file size
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=103602

I printed this bug report webpage as an example (see attachments):

Issue103602_fromChrome.pdf - 560 KB

Issue103602_fromPrimo.pdf - 97 KB

I used PrimoPDF Creator ( http://www.primopdf.com/ )

As well, the Chrome created PDF is really slow to scroll.

Attachments:
Issue103602_fromChrome.pdf 560 KB
Issue103602_fromPrimo.pdf 97.1 KB

[chro...@googlecode.com]

Comment #5 on issue 103602 by jenglis...@gmail.com: Chrome-generated PDFs

have large file size
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=103602

I have no problem with you merging this issue if you're sure this is the
same problem. I am not trying to print any non-english webpages. Try it
yourself on your favorite news website. Generate a PDF from chrome, and
compare its size to a PDF generated from Primo or PDFCreator or Acrobat.
dhw just attached two files for comparison. Are you sure it's the same
issue?

[chro...@googlecode.com]

Comment #7 on issue 103602 by l...@lukiyanets.com: Chrome-generated PDFs

have large file size
http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=103602

I have Adobe Acrobat X Professional installed.
Strangely enough this issue is true even when printing to Adobe PDF printer
via Chrome Print Preview.

I printed this web page in 3 modes (see attachements):
- Sample 1 - Through Print Preview (Ctrl+P) via Print to PDF destination
(1.07 MB)
- Sample 2 - Through Print Preview (Ctrl+P) via Adobe PDF destination (491
KB)
- Sample 3 - Through System Print Dialog (Ctrl+Shift+P) via Adobe PDF
printer (64.3 KB)

Now let's analyze all 3 files with Adobe Acrobat space audit (see PNG
attachments):
- Sample 1 - 97.45% is taken by fonts, however there are no embedded fonts
in this PDF that Adobe Acrobat can see. So Chrome probably not only embeds
the entire font (ridiculous), but also corrupts the file, so the font
cannot be un-embedded. PDF format is 1.4 (Acrobat 5.x)! Come one guys - it
is 2011 - PDF 1.4 is 5 major versions behind. Are there really any people
who use Acrobat 5.x? If there are - why do we need to support them???
- Sample 2 - 97% is taken by content streams. What are content streams you
ask? Well, it means that prior to passing the content to Adobe PDF, Chrome
Print Preview converts all fonts into curves! Wow! Such document is not
only large, it is also useless, because it does not contain text that can
be searched or indexed. It is in essence one large vector picture.
- Sample 3 - Here we clearly understand why Adobe Acrobat is worth the
money. The size is more than an order of magnitude smaller. Only a small
subset of font (ArialMT) required to display the text is embedded. Only
vector (non-text) features are displayed as curves. Mind you - this is a
completely un-optimized PDF. I can make it much smaller (another 50%
smaller) by changing the PDF version to 1.7

Conclusions:
- Do not use Chrome Print Preview at all (until it is fixed), even if you
are printing to one of your regular printers. Always bypass Chrome Print
Preview by using Ctrl+Shift+P
- Do not use Chrome's Print To PDF option. Get yourself any proper (even
free) PDF printer driver.
- Chrome Print to PDF has to have fine-tuning settings (especially for
embedding fonts).
- Default should always be to embed subset of fonts used in the document.
- Default PDF version has to be raised to 1.7 Extension Level 5 (Acrobat
9.1).

Attachments:
Sample 1 with Print Preview via Print to PDF.pdf 1.1 MB
Sample 2 with Print Preview via Adobe PDF.pdf 491 KB
Sample 3 with System Print Dialog via Adobe PDF.pdf 64.3 KB
Sample 1 Space Audit.PNG 20.5 KB
Sample 2 Space Audit.PNG 18.2 KB
Sample 3 Space Audit.PNG 17.9 KB