diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py
index a5e6253ca387..701aee35f64e 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py
@@ -1040,8 +1040,9 @@ def embedTTFType42(font, characters, descriptor):
             for c in characters:
                 ccode = c
                 gind = font.get_char_index(ccode)
-                glyph = font.load_char(ccode, flags=LOAD_NO_HINTING)
-                widths.append((ccode, glyph.horiAdvance / 6))
+                glyph = font.load_char(ccode,
+                                       flags=LOAD_NO_SCALE | LOAD_NO_HINTING)
+                widths.append((ccode, cvt(glyph.horiAdvance)))
                 if ccode < 65536:
                     cid_to_gid_map[ccode] = unichr(gind)
                 max_ccode = max(ccode, max_ccode)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_text/font_scaling.pdf b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_text/font_scaling.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..72b73eb8f8af
Binary files /dev/null and b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_text/font_scaling.pdf differ
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_text.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_text.py
index 2eae173340b4..fa35146ac2ac 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_text.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_text.py
@@ -411,3 +411,16 @@ def test_text_size_binding():
     matplotlib.rcParams['font.size'] = 100
 
     assert sz1 == fp.get_size_in_points()
+
+
+@image_comparison(baseline_images=['font_scaling'],
+                  extensions=['pdf'])
+def test_font_scaling():
+    matplotlib.rcParams['pdf.fonttype'] = 42
+    fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(6.4, 12.4))
+    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(plt.NullLocator())
+    ax.yaxis.set_major_locator(plt.NullLocator())
+    ax.set_ylim(-10, 600)
+
+    for i, fs in enumerate(range(4, 43, 2)):
+        ax.text(0.1, i*30, "{fs} pt font size".format(fs=fs), fontsize=fs)