I'm using iTextPdf 8.0.5 to generate a PDF. I have an issue with french characters like é, à, â, ç. For example the word 'défunt'. I either get 'dfunt' or 'd©funt' or 'défunt'

I tried using a standard font, using a local ttf font, using UTF8, using other encoding from this page : https://api.itextpdf.com/iText/java/latest/com/itextpdf/io/font/PdfEncodings.html

But nothing works.

Here is my code (I removed some content to just keep the cell with accentuation)

import com.itextpdf.io.font.constants.StandardFonts;
import com.itextpdf.io.font.PdfEncodings;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.font.PdfFont;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.font.PdfFontFactory;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.font.PdfFontFactory.EmbeddingStrategy; 
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfVersion;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.WriterProperties;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.colors.ColorConstants;
import com.itextpdf.layout.Document;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Text;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Table;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.UnitValue;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Cell;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.TextAlignment;
import com.itextpdf.layout.borders.SolidBorder; 


import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import java.io.IOException;


public class EtiquettesServlet extends HttpServlet {

    @Override
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
        
        String fontPath = "E:/Tomcat 9.0/webapps/Thanact/calibri.ttf"; 
        
        response.setContentType("application/pdf");
        response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=etiquettes.pdf");
        
        try {

            PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(response.getOutputStream(), new WriterProperties().setPdfVersion(PdfVersion.PDF_2_0));
//          writer.setPdfVersion(PdfVersion.PDF_2_0);

            PdfDocument pdfDoc = new PdfDocument(writer);

            Document document = new Document(pdfDoc);

            PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, "UTF-8");

            Table table = new Table(UnitValue.createPercentArray(4)).useAllAvailableWidth(); // 4 colonnes

            Text    label = new Text("Nom défunt : ").setBold();
            Text    value = new Text("MyValue");                    
            cell.add(new Paragraph().add(label).add(value).setFont(font).setFontSize(8));
            
            table.addCell(cell);
            
            document.add(table);
            document.close();

        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "Erreur lors de la génération du PDF : " + e.getMessage());
            System.out.println(e.getMessage());
        }
    }
}

I found some info here : UTF-8 characters in a pdfcell itext

But it looks like it's from iText 7

Thanks for your help

Web

EtiquettesServlet.java

change

PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, "UTF-8");

to

import com.itextpdf.io.font.PdfEncodings;
....
PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, PdfEncodings.IDENTITY_H);

use PdfEncodings.IDENTITY_H not UTF-8.

package com.example;

import com.itextpdf.io.font.constants.StandardFonts;
import com.itextpdf.io.font.PdfEncodings;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.font.PdfFont;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.font.PdfFontFactory;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.font.PdfFontFactory.EmbeddingStrategy; 
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfVersion;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.WriterProperties;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.colors.ColorConstants;
import com.itextpdf.layout.Document;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Text;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Table;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.UnitValue;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Cell;
import com.itextpdf.layout.properties.TextAlignment;
import com.itextpdf.layout.borders.SolidBorder; 

import java.io.IOException;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

@WebServlet("/EtiquettesServlet")
public class EtiquettesServlet extends HttpServlet {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public EtiquettesServlet() {
        super();
    }

    @Override
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
        //String fontPath = "E:/Tomcat 9.0/webapps/Thanact/calibri.ttf"; 
        String fontPath = "fonts/calibri.ttf";
        
        response.setContentType("application/pdf");
        response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=etiquettes.pdf");
        
        try {

            PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter(response.getOutputStream(), new WriterProperties().setPdfVersion(PdfVersion.PDF_2_0));
//          writer.setPdfVersion(PdfVersion.PDF_2_0);

            PdfDocument pdfDoc = new PdfDocument(writer);

            Document document = new Document(pdfDoc);

            PdfFont fontUTF8 = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, "UTF-8");
            PdfFont fontIDENTITY_H = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, PdfEncodings.IDENTITY_H);

            Table table = new Table(UnitValue.createPercentArray(4)).useAllAvailableWidth(); // 4 colonnes
            
            String  frenchString = "Nom défunt (é, à, â, ç): ";
            //Text    label = new Text("Nom défunt : ").setBold();
            Text    label = new Text(frenchString);
            Text    labelBold = new Text(frenchString).setBold();
            //Text    value = new Text("MyValue");                    
            //Cell.add(new Paragraph().add(label).add(value).setFont(font).setFontSize(8));
            Cell cell = new Cell();            
            //cell.add(new Paragraph().add(label).add(value).setFont(fontUTF8).setFontSize(8));
            cell.add(new Paragraph().add(label).setFont(fontUTF8).setFontSize(24));
            table.addCell(cell);

            Cell cellBold = new Cell();            
            //cell.add(new Paragraph().add(label).add(value).setFont(fontUTF8).setFontSize(8));
            cellBold.add(new Paragraph().add(labelBold).setFont(fontUTF8).setFontSize(24));
            table.addCell(cellBold);
            
            Cell cell2 = new Cell();            
            //cell2.add(new Paragraph().add(label).add(value).setFont(fontUTF8).setFontSize(8));
            cell2.add(new Paragraph().add(label).setFont(fontIDENTITY_H).setFontSize(24));
            table.addCell(cell2);

            Cell cell2Bold = new Cell();            
            //cell2.add(new Paragraph().add(label).add(value).setFont(fontUTF8).setFontSize(8));
            cell2Bold.add(new Paragraph().add(labelBold).setFont(fontIDENTITY_H).setFontSize(24));
            table.addCell(cell2Bold);
            
            document.add(table);
            document.close();

        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "Erreur lors de la génération du PDF : " + e.getMessage());
            System.out.println(e.getMessage());
        }
    }

}

• Thanact.war - WAR File in Tomcat

apache-tomcat-9.0.96/webapps/Thanact
└── WEB-INF
    ├── classes
    │   ├── com
    │   │   └── example
    │   │       └── EtiquettesServlet.class
    │   ├── fonts
    │   │   ├── calibrib.ttf
    │   │   ├── calibrii.ttf
    │   │   ├── calibrili.ttf
    │   │   ├── calibril.ttf
    │   │   ├── calibri.ttf
    │   │   └── calibriz.ttf
    │   └── logback.xml
    ├── lib
    │   ├── barcodes-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── bc-fips-1.0.2.4.jar
    │   ├── bcpkix-fips-1.0.7.jar
    │   ├── bcpkix-jdk18on-1.78.jar
    │   ├── bcprov-jdk18on-1.78.jar
    │   ├── bcutil-jdk18on-1.78.jar
    │   ├── bouncy-castle-adapter-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── bouncy-castle-connector-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── bouncy-castle-fips-adapter-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── commons-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── font-asian-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── forms-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── hyph-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── io-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── kernel-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── layout-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── logback-classic-1.4.5.jar
    │   ├── logback-core-1.4.5.jar
    │   ├── pdfa-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── pdfua-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── sign-8.0.5.jar
    │   ├── slf4j-api-2.0.13.jar
    │   ├── styled-xml-parser-8.0.5.jar
    │   └── svg-8.0.5.jar
    └── web.xml

Test URL: http://localhost:8080/Thanact/EtiquettesServlet

PDF Result:

Windows Code Page

open CMD.exe or PowerShell ,

run command: chcp

Language:

change

PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, "UTF-8");

to

import com.itextpdf.io.font.PdfEncodings;
....
PdfFont font = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, PdfEncodings.IDENTITY_H);

My Test Environment

• Linux
• LANG = en_US.UTF-8
• FONT calibri.ttf (Windows 11)

DocumentWithFrench.java

package com.example;

import com.itextpdf.io.font.PdfEncodings;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.font.PdfFont;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.font.PdfFontFactory;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.layout.element.Paragraph;
import com.itextpdf.layout.Document;


import java.io.FileNotFoundException;

public class DocumentWithFrench {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException {
        //String fontPath = "E:/Tomcat 9.0/webapps/Thanact/calibri.ttf";
        String fontPath = "fonts/calibri.ttf";
        String  frenchString = "Nom défunt (é, à, â, ç): ";
        PdfWriter writer = new PdfWriter("etiquettes.pdf");
        PdfDocument pdf = new PdfDocument(writer);

        try (Document document = new Document(pdf)) {
            PdfFont fontUTF8      = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, "UTF-8");
            PdfFont fontIDENTITY_H    = PdfFontFactory.createFont(fontPath, PdfEncodings.IDENTITY_H);
            //Text    label = new Text("Nom défunt : ").setBold();
            //Text    value = new Text("MyValue");
            Paragraph paragraph = new Paragraph()
                    .add(new Paragraph("Hello 1 >>>> "))
                    .add(new Paragraph(frenchString).setFont(fontUTF8).setFontSize(20) //FAIL
                    .add(new Paragraph("Hello 2 >>>> "))
                    .add(new Paragraph(frenchString).setFont(fontIDENTITY_H).setFontSize(20))
                    );
            document.add(paragraph);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}