diff --git a/cpdfcommand.ml b/cpdfcommand.ml
index d8ddc4f..9336edf 100644
--- a/cpdfcommand.ml
+++ b/cpdfcommand.ml
@@ -3724,7 +3724,7 @@ let go () =
             | StandardFont f -> Some (Pdftext.StandardFont (f, Pdftext.WinAnsiEncoding))
             | OtherFont f -> None (* it's in fontname *)
             | FontToEmbed (fontfile, encoding) ->
-                Some (Cpdfembed.embed_truetype pdf ~fontfile ~fontname:args.fontname ~text:"" ~encoding)
+                Some (Cpdfembed.embed_truetype pdf ~fontfile ~fontname:args.fontname ~codepoints:[] ~encoding)
           in
             warn_prerotate range pdf;
             let pdf =
@@ -3991,7 +3991,7 @@ let go () =
         match args.font with
         | StandardFont f -> Pdftext.StandardFont (f, Pdftext.WinAnsiEncoding)
         | FontToEmbed (fontfile, encoding) ->
-            Cpdfembed.embed_truetype pdf ~fontfile ~fontname:args.fontname ~text:"" ~encoding
+            Cpdfembed.embed_truetype pdf ~fontfile ~fontname:args.fontname ~codepoints:[] ~encoding
         | _ -> error "TOC: not a standard or embedded font"
       in
       let pdf = Cpdftoc.typeset_table_of_contents ~font ~fontsize:args.fontsize ~title:args.toc_title ~bookmark:args.toc_bookmark pdf in
@@ -4002,7 +4002,7 @@ let go () =
         match args.font with
         | StandardFont f -> Pdftext.StandardFont (f, Pdftext.WinAnsiEncoding)
         | FontToEmbed (fontfile, encoding) ->
-            Cpdfembed.embed_truetype (Pdf.empty ()) ~fontfile ~fontname:args.fontname ~text:"" ~encoding
+            Cpdfembed.embed_truetype (Pdf.empty ()) ~fontfile ~fontname:args.fontname ~codepoints:[] ~encoding
         | _ -> error "text to PDF: not a standard or embedded font"
       in
       let pdf =
diff --git a/cpdfembed.ml b/cpdfembed.ml
index ee5bc81..0e9f8db 100644
--- a/cpdfembed.ml
+++ b/cpdfembed.ml
@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@ let basename () =
   incr fontnum;
   "AAAAA" ^ string_of_char (char_of_int (!fontnum + 65))
 
-let embed_truetype pdf ~fontfile ~fontname ~text ~encoding =
-  let unicodepoints = Pdftext.codepoints_of_utf8 text in
+let embed_truetype pdf ~fontfile ~fontname ~codepoints ~encoding =
   let glyphlist_table = Pdfglyphlist.reverse_glyph_hashes () in 
   let encoding_table = Pdftext.reverse_table_of_encoding encoding in
   let accepted_unicodepoints =
@@ -53,7 +52,7 @@ let embed_truetype pdf ~fontfile ~fontname ~text ~encoding =
       (fun u ->
         (u, pdfcode_of_unicode_codepoint encoding_table glyphlist_table u))
       (calc_accepted_unicodepoints
-         encoding_table glyphlist_table unicodepoints)
+         encoding_table glyphlist_table codepoints)
   in
   let f = Cpdftruetype.parse ~subset:accepted_unicodepoints fontfile ~encoding in
   let name_1 = basename () in
diff --git a/cpdfembed.mli b/cpdfembed.mli
index 3b82f0a..fd017e3 100644
--- a/cpdfembed.mli
+++ b/cpdfembed.mli
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
-(* Embed a TrueType font for the given set of UTF8 characters in the given
-   encoding, adding it as an object to the PDF, and returning the number of
-   that object. *)
+(* Embed a TrueType font for the given set of unicode codepoints in the given
+   encoding, adding the fontfile to the PDF and returning the font object. *)
 val embed_truetype :
-  Pdf.t -> fontfile:Pdfio.bytes -> fontname:string -> text:string ->
+  Pdf.t -> fontfile:Pdfio.bytes -> fontname:string -> codepoints:int list ->
   encoding:Pdftext.encoding -> Pdftext.font