Ghostscript fails to use embedded fonts

[sheldonross]

Binary package hint: defoma

Ghostscript 8.61 in Hardy to Ghostscript 8.70 in 9.10

I'm trying to use ghostscript to shrink pdf / optimize pdfs for printing.

gs -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pdf

In this scenario, gs appears to run, but the fonts in the outputted pdf are garbled and illegible.

If I remake the pdf and don't embed the fonts, gs correctly(sort of) substitutes fonts. And then complains that the PDF should include embedded fonts. The PDF appears correct at this point albeit with the substituted fonts.

[sheldonross (ross-sheldon)]

I have multiple examples, and this is very repeatable on both 8.04 and 9.10.