Compress PDF files to reduce their size right in your browser. Pick a compression level, or set an exact size limit, and get a smaller file without uploading anything.
How to compress a PDF
- Click "Choose file" and pick the PDF you want to shrink.
- Choose a compression level: Light, Recommended, Strong or Target size.
- Click "Compress PDF" and check the before and after sizes.
- Click "Download" to save the smaller PDF.
Which compression level should I pick?
Light is a lossless clean-up. It removes embedded page thumbnails and leftover editor data and restructures the file. Quality stays identical, but the saving is usually modest. Recommended is the right choice for most files. It re-encodes photos and scans inside the PDF to at most 2000 px on the longest side at about 72% JPEG quality. Text and vector graphics are not touched, so text stays sharp, selectable and searchable.
Strong turns every page into an image at about 110 DPI. It gives the smallest files, but text can no longer be selected, searched or copied, and the app warns you before you use it. Target size lets you type a maximum size in KB, or tap 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB or 1 MB. It tries lossless clean-up first, then stronger image compression, and only uses page images as a last resort. The result tells you whether the target was met or shows the smallest size it could reach.
Why some PDFs barely shrink
Most of a PDF's weight is images. A text-only document, such as a report exported from Word, is already compact, so expect a small saving. Scans and photo-heavy files shrink the most. Images in unusual formats (CMYK, masks, JPEG 2000 and a few others) are left as they are rather than risk damaging them, which can limit the saving on some files.
Frequently asked questions
Can compressing make my PDF bigger?
No. If the tool can't make the file smaller, it keeps your original unchanged and tells you so. You never download a file that is larger than the one you started with.
Can I compress a PDF without losing quality?
Yes, use Light. It only removes unneeded data and restructures the file, so pages look exactly the same. Recommended also keeps text and vector graphics untouched and only re-encodes images, so text documents look the same to the eye.
How much smaller will my file get?
It depends on what is inside. Scanned documents and photo-heavy PDFs often shrink a lot, while text-only files change little. The result shows the size before and after and the percentage saved.
Will the text still be searchable?
With Light and Recommended, yes. Strong converts pages to images, so text can't be selected, searched or copied afterwards. Target size only falls back to that if gentler methods can't reach your limit, and it tells you when it does.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes, it works in iPhone and Android browsers. Very large files (over about 200 MB) may be slow or fail on phones because of limited memory. A desktop browser handles big files better.
Can I compress a password-protected PDF?
Not yet. Encrypted PDFs aren't supported for now. Unlocking is planned for a future update.