diff -Napur ghostscript-9.27.old/base/fapi_ft.c ghostscript-9.27.new/base/fapi_ft.c
--- ghostscript-9.27.old/base/fapi_ft.c	2019-04-04 00:43:14.000000000 -0700
+++ ghostscript-9.27.new/base/fapi_ft.c	2023-03-07 16:41:56.217995052 -0800
@@ -974,13 +974,19 @@ make_rotation(FT_Matrix * a_transform, c
  */
 static void
 transform_decompose(FT_Matrix * a_transform, FT_UInt * xresp, FT_UInt * yresp,
-                    FT_Fixed * a_x_scale, FT_Fixed * a_y_scale)
+                    FT_Fixed * a_x_scale, FT_Fixed * a_y_scale, int units_per_EM)
 {
     double scalex, scaley, fact = 1.0;
     double factx = 1.0, facty = 1.0;
     FT_Matrix ftscale_mat;
     FT_UInt xres;
     FT_UInt yres;
+    /* We have to account for units_per_EM as we fiddle with the scaling
+     * in order to avoid underflow (mostly in the TTF hinting code), but
+     * we also want to clamp to a lower value (512, admittedly arrived at
+     * via experimentation) in order to preserve the fidelity of the outlines.
+     */
+    double upe = units_per_EM > 512 ? (float)units_per_EM : 512.0;
 
     scalex = hypot((double)a_transform->xx, (double)a_transform->xy);
     scaley = hypot((double)a_transform->yx, (double)a_transform->yy);
@@ -1067,10 +1073,25 @@ transform_decompose(FT_Matrix * a_transf
         scalex *= fact;
     }
 
-    ftscale_mat.xx = (FT_Fixed) (65536.0 / scalex);
-    ftscale_mat.xy = (FT_Fixed) 0;
-    ftscale_mat.yx = (FT_Fixed) 0;
-    ftscale_mat.yy = (FT_Fixed) (65536.0 / scaley);
+    /* see above */
+    fact = 1.0;
+    while (scaley * yres > (double)upe * 72.0 && (xres > 0 && yres > 0)
+           && (scalex > 0.0 && scaley > 0.0)) {
+        if (scaley < yres) {
+            xres >>= 1;
+            yres >>= 1;
+            fact *= 2.0;
+        }
+        else {
+            scalex /= 1.25;
+            scaley /= 1.25;
+        }
+    }
+
+    ftscale_mat.xx = (FT_Fixed) ((65536.0 / scalex) * fact);
+    ftscale_mat.xy = 0;
+    ftscale_mat.yx = 0;
+    ftscale_mat.yy = (FT_Fixed) ((65536.0 / scaley) * fact);
 
     FT_Matrix_Multiply(a_transform, &ftscale_mat);
     memcpy(a_transform, &ftscale_mat, sizeof(FT_Matrix));
@@ -1315,7 +1336,7 @@ gs_fapi_ft_get_scaled_font(gs_fapi_serve
          * transform.
          */
         transform_decompose(&face->ft_transform, &face->horz_res,
-                            &face->vert_res, &face->width, &face->height);
+                            &face->vert_res, &face->width, &face->height, face->ft_face->units_per_EM);
 
         ft_error = FT_Set_Char_Size(face->ft_face, face->width, face->height,
                                     face->horz_res, face->vert_res);