Minor glyph displacement when converting Sibelius PDFs to PDF/X-1a in Acrobat
Details
Hello everyone,
I’m encountering an issue when converting PDFs (exported from Sibelius) to PDF/X-1a format using Adobe Acrobat Pro. Although the PDFs initially look fine, certain musical glyphs (notes and rests) become slightly displaced or shifted downward after the conversion.
What’s been done so far:
1.Extensive testing by AVID (Sibelius)
•They tried multiple music fonts (Opus, Maestro, Norfolk, etc.)
•They tested different Sibelius versions (including older releases and the latest Sibelius Ultimate)
•In every case, the exported PDFs look fine until converting to PDF/X-1a in Acrobat.
2.Avid’s conclusion
•Avid hasn’t found any defects in the PDF export itself.
•They suspect something in Acrobat’s PDF/X-1a conversion triggers the glyph displacement.
•They suggested contacting Adobe or its community to see if there’s a known issue or fix.
3.Preflight droplet
•I’m using a droplet (“Hal Leonard X1a.app”) to batch-convert PDFs to PDF/X-1a.
•This droplet has worked flawlessly for years.
•Recently, the displacements started appearing, so something might have changed in newer Acrobat or Sibelius versions.
Questions for the community
•Has anyone experienced similar issues with PDF/X-1a conversion affecting font glyphs?
•Are there specific Acrobat or Preflight settings that might cause font shifts during this conversion?
•Is there a known workaround, either on the Sibelius side or within Acrobat, to prevent such shifts?
I’m attaching sample files (before and after PDF/X-1a conversion) plus a short screencast of my workflow and droplet settings. Any help or insight is greatly appreciated!
Attachments
Thank you
If more information is needed, please let me know. The Sibelius support team is eager to see if there’s a solution on Adobe’s end.
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