diff --git a/pdfbox/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/pdmodel/font/PDCIDFont.java b/pdfbox/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/pdmodel/font/PDCIDFont.java
index d5804563a95..67ba4cd40b7 100644
--- a/pdfbox/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/pdmodel/font/PDCIDFont.java
+++ b/pdfbox/src/main/java/org/apache/pdfbox/pdmodel/font/PDCIDFont.java
@@ -338,7 +338,10 @@ public float getAverageFontWidth()
                     }
                 }
             }
-            averageWidth = totalWidths / characterCount;
+            if (characterCount != 0)
+            {
+                averageWidth = totalWidths / characterCount;
+            }
             if (averageWidth <= 0 || Float.isNaN(averageWidth))
             {
                 averageWidth = getDefaultWidth();