CID to PDB Converter

Render CID font characters into Palm Database image format online

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Palm Ecosystem

Package your CID-keyed CJK character renders into the Palm Database format for viewing on PDA devices and Palm OS emulators.

Server Processing

No Palm development tools needed. The CID to PDB conversion runs entirely on Convertio servers accessible from any browser.

Data Protected

Uploaded CID fonts are removed immediately after conversion, and PDB outputs are deleted within 24 hours for your security.

How to convert CID to PDB

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

Choose pdb or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

Let the file convert and you can download your pdb file right afterwards

About formats

CID (Character Identifier) is a font architecture developed by Adobe Systems and specified in June 1993 to address the challenges of fonts containing very large glyph sets, particularly for CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) scripts. Traditional PostScript fonts identify glyphs by name, which becomes impractical when a font contains tens of thousands of characters — a typical Japanese font may include over 20,000 glyphs. CID-keyed fonts replace glyph names with numeric identifiers organized by a character collection and ordering (such as Adobe-Japan1 or Adobe-GB1), dramatically reducing overhead for glyph access and subsetting. The architecture defines three PostScript font types: Type 9 (CID-keyed Type 1 outlines), Type 10 (CID-keyed Type 3), and Type 11 (CID-keyed Type 42/TrueType). A primary advantage is efficient handling of massive character sets — the numeric CID approach eliminates the memory and processing cost of maintaining thousands of glyph name strings. CID fonts also support sophisticated CMap resources that map encoding values to CIDs, enabling a single font to serve multiple encoding schemes (Unicode, Shift-JIS, Big5) without duplicating glyph data. The architecture integrates well with PDF subsetting, allowing documents to embed only the glyphs actually used. CID-keyed technology laid the foundation for CJK support in both OpenType and modern PDF workflows, and remains active in print production and document processing systems worldwide.

Developer: Adobe Systems

Initial release: June 11, 1993

PDB (Palm Database) is a generic database container format created by Palm, Inc. for the Palm OS platform, first appearing with the original PalmPilot in March 1996. In the ebook context, PDB files most commonly use the PalmDOC or Plucker encoding to store readable text with basic formatting. The format consists of a 78-byte header identifying the database name, creation date, and record count, followed by a record index table and the data records themselves. PalmDOC-encoded PDB files use a simple LZ77-based compression scheme to pack plain text efficiently, while Plucker extends this with HTML rendering, image support, and hyperlink navigation. PDB ebooks powered a thriving mobile reading ecosystem years before dedicated e-readers existed — millions of Palm OS users carried entire libraries on devices like the Palm V, Tungsten, and Treo handhelds. A primary advantage is extreme simplicity: the flat record structure and minimal overhead mean PDB files parse instantly even on severely constrained hardware with limited memory and processing power. The open, well-documented structure is another strength, having spawned numerous reader applications across Palm OS, Windows, and later mobile platforms. Though the Palm platform is long discontinued, PDB ebooks remain accessible through conversion tools and readers like Calibre, and the format holds historical significance as one of the earliest practical mobile ebook solutions.

Developer: Palm, Inc.

Initial release: March 1996

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert CID to PDB?

PDB wraps images in a Palm Database container for viewing on Palm OS devices, emulators, and retro PDA projects with CJK character support.

How do I view PDB images?

Palm OS emulators, Palm image viewer apps, and ImageMagick can open PDB image files. The format is specific to the Palm ecosystem.

Is PDB different from PALM format?

PDB is the database container; PALM is the raw bitmap. PDB wraps image data with metadata headers for Palm OS application use.

Are CJK glyphs supported?

PDB stores rendered bitmap data regardless of content. CID font CJK characters are rasterized and packaged cleanly.

Is CID to PDB free?

Absolutely. Convertio processes this conversion at no charge — upload your CID font and download the PDB file freely.

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