diff --git a/FL/Fl_PostScript.H b/FL/Fl_PostScript.H
index 714080ac0..89e8d57ac 100644
--- a/FL/Fl_PostScript.H
+++ b/FL/Fl_PostScript.H
@@ -132,6 +132,12 @@ class Clip {
   
   void page(double pw, double ph, int media = 0);
   void page(int format);
+  static void *prepare_rle85(FILE *out);
+  static void write_rle85(uchar b, void *data);
+  static void close_rle85(void *data);
+  static void *prepare85(FILE *out);
+  static void write85(void *data, const uchar *p, int len);
+  static void close85(void *data);
 #endif // FL_DOXYGEN
   
   // implementation of drawing methods
diff --git a/src/Fl_PostScript.cxx b/src/Fl_PostScript.cxx
index 7262d7dd2..706663248 100644
--- a/src/Fl_PostScript.cxx
+++ b/src/Fl_PostScript.cxx
@@ -262,11 +262,11 @@ static const char * prolog =
 
 // single-color bitmask 
 
-"/MI { GS      /filtername exch def       /py exch def /px exch def /sy exch def /sx exch def \n"
+"/MI { GS /py exch def /px exch def /sy exch def /sx exch def \n"
 "translate \n"
 "sx sy scale px py true \n"
 "[ px 0 0 py neg 0 py ]\n"
-"currentfile filtername\n"
+"currentfile A85RLE\n"
 "imagemask GR\n"
 "} bind def\n"
 
@@ -1108,19 +1108,18 @@ static void transformed_draw_extra(const char* str, int n, double x, double y, i
   delete[] img;
   // write the string image to PostScript as a scaled bitmask
   scale = w2 / float(w);
-  driver->clocale_printf("%g %g %g %g %d %d {/ASCIIHexDecode filter} MI\n", x, y - h*0.77/scale, w2/scale, h/scale, w2, h);
+  driver->clocale_printf("%g %g %g %g %d %d MI\n", x, y - h*0.77/scale, w2/scale, h/scale, w2, h);
   uchar *di;
   int wmask = (w2+7)/8;
+  void *rle85 = Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::prepare_rle85(output);
   for (int j = h - 1; j >= 0; j--){
     di = mask + j * wmask;
     for (int i = 0; i < wmask; i++){
-      //if (!(i%80)) fprintf(output, "\n"); // don't have lines longer than 255 chars
-      fprintf(output, "%2.2x", *di );
+      Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::write_rle85(*di, rle85);
       di++;
     }
-    fprintf(output,"\n");
   }
-  fprintf(output,">\n");
+  Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::close_rle85(rle85);
   delete[] mask;
 }
 
@@ -1157,7 +1156,8 @@ void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::transformed_draw(const char* str, int n, dou
     transformed_draw_extra(str, n, x, y, w, output, this, false);
     return;
     }
-  fprintf(output, "%d <", w);
+  fprintf(output, "%d <~", w);
+  void *data = prepare85(output);
   // transforms UTF8 encoding to our custom PostScript encoding as follows:
   // extract each unicode character
   // if unicode <= 0x17F, unicode and PostScript codes are identical
@@ -1178,13 +1178,15 @@ void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::transformed_draw(const char* str, int n, dou
       utf = code;
       }
     else { // unhandled character: draw all string as bitmap image
-      fprintf(output, "> pop pop\n"); // close and ignore the opened hex string
+      fprintf(output, "~> pop pop\n"); // close and ignore the opened hex string
       transformed_draw_extra(str, n, x, y, w, output, this, false);
       return;
     }
-    fprintf(output, "%4.4X", utf);
+    // 2 bytes per character, high-order byte first, encode that to ASCII85
+    uchar c[2]; c[1] = utf & 0xFF; c[0] = (utf & 0xFF00)>>8; write85(data, c, 2);
   }
-  clocale_printf("> %g %g show_pos_width\n", x, y);
+  close85(data);
+  clocale_printf(" %g %g show_pos_width\n", x, y);
 }
 
 void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::rtl_draw(const char* str, int n, int x, int y) {
diff --git a/src/ps_image.cxx b/src/ps_image.cxx
index 0b69212da..c5954eb4a 100644
--- a/src/ps_image.cxx
+++ b/src/ps_image.cxx
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ struct struct85 {
 };
 
 
-static struct85 *prepare85(FILE *outfile) // prepare to produce ASCII85-encoded output
+void *Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::prepare85(FILE *outfile) // prepare to produce ASCII85-encoded output
 {
   struct85 *big = new struct85;
   big->outfile = outfile;
@@ -71,8 +71,9 @@ static int convert85(const uchar *bytes4, uchar *chars5)
 }
 
 
-static void write85(struct85 *big, const uchar *p, int len) // sends len input bytes for ASCII85 encoding
+void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::write85(void *data, const uchar *p, int len) // sends len input bytes for ASCII85 encoding
 {
+  struct85 *big = (struct85 *)data;
   const uchar *last = p + len;
   while (p < last) {
     int c = 4 - big->l4;
@@ -90,8 +91,9 @@ static void write85(struct85 *big, const uchar *p, int len) // sends len input b
 }
 
 
-static void close85(struct85 *big)  // stops ASCII85-encoding after processing remaining unencoded input bytes, if any
+void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::close85(void *data)  // stops ASCII85-encoding after processing remaining unencoded input bytes, if any
 {
+  struct85 *big = (struct85 *)data;
   int l;
   if (big->l4) { // # of remaining unencoded input bytes
     l = big->l4;
@@ -120,18 +122,19 @@ struct struct_rle85 {
   int run_length; // current length of run
 };
 
-static struct_rle85 *prepare_rle85(FILE *out) // prepare to produce RLE+ASCII85-encoded output
+void *Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::prepare_rle85(FILE *out) // prepare to produce RLE+ASCII85-encoded output
 {
   struct_rle85 *rle = new struct_rle85;
   rle->count = 0;
   rle->run_length = 0;
-  rle->data85 = prepare85(out);
+  rle->data85 = (struct85*)prepare85(out);
   return rle;
 }
 
 
-static void write_rle85(uchar b, struct_rle85 *rle) // sends one input byte to RLE+ASCII85 encoding
+void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::write_rle85(uchar b, void *data) // sends one input byte to RLE+ASCII85 encoding
 {
+  struct_rle85 *rle = (struct_rle85 *)data;
   uchar c;
   if (rle->run_length > 0) { // if within a run
     if (b == rle->buffer[0] &&  rle->run_length < 128) { // the run can be extended
@@ -166,8 +169,9 @@ static void write_rle85(uchar b, struct_rle85 *rle) // sends one input byte to R
 }
 
 
-static void close_rle85(struct_rle85 *rle) // stop doing RLE+ASCII85 encoding
+void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::close_rle85(void *data) // stop doing RLE+ASCII85 encoding
 {
+  struct_rle85 *rle = (struct_rle85 *)data;
   uchar c;
   if (rle->run_length > 0) { // if within a run, output it
     c = (uchar)(257 - rle->run_length);
@@ -408,7 +412,7 @@ void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::draw_image(Fl_Draw_Image_Cb call, void *data
   int LD=iw*D;
   uchar *rgbdata=new uchar[LD];
   uchar *curmask=mask;
-  struct_rle85 *big = prepare_rle85(output);
+  void *big = prepare_rle85(output);
   
   if (level2_mask) {
     for (j = ih - 1; j >= 0; j--) { // output full image data
@@ -495,7 +499,7 @@ void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::draw_image_mono(const uchar *data, int ix, i
   int bg = (bg_r + bg_g + bg_b)/3;
 
   uchar *curmask=mask;
-  struct_rle85 *big = prepare_rle85(output);
+  void *big = prepare_rle85(output);
   for (j=0; j<ih;j++){
     if (mask){
       for (k=0;k<my/ih;k++){
@@ -544,7 +548,7 @@ void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::draw_image_mono(Fl_Draw_Image_Cb call, void
   int LD=iw*D;
   uchar *rgbdata=new uchar[LD];
   uchar *curmask=mask;
-  struct_rle85 *big = prepare_rle85(output);
+  void *big = prepare_rle85(output);
   for (j=0; j<ih;j++){
 
     if (mask && lang_level_>2){  // InterleaveType 2 mask data
@@ -624,16 +628,16 @@ void Fl_PostScript_Graphics_Driver::draw(Fl_Bitmap * bitmap,int XP, int YP, int
 
   int i,j;
   push_clip(XP, YP, WP, HP);
-  fprintf(output , "%i %i %i %i %i %i {A85RLE} MI\n", XP - si, YP + HP , WP , -HP , w , h);
+  fprintf(output , "%i %i %i %i %i %i MI\n", XP - si, YP + HP , WP , -HP , w , h);
 
-  struct_rle85 *big = prepare_rle85(output);
+  void *rle85 = prepare_rle85(output);
   for (j=0; j<HP; j++){
     for (i=0; i<xx; i++){
-      write_rle85(swap_byte(*di), big);
+      write_rle85(swap_byte(*di), rle85);
       di++;
     }
   }
-  close_rle85(big);
+  close_rle85(rle85);
   pop_clip();
 }