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Compress PDF

Reduce a PDF's file size with a compression level you choose, from light to maximum.

Drop your file here

Nothing is uploaded — your file is processed on this device.

Options for Compress PDF

Compression works by re-rendering each page as an optimised image, which reliably shrinks scans and image-heavy files. Text stops being selectable in the result — use Optimize PDF when you need to keep the text layer.

How to compress pdf

  1. 1Upload your PDF and enter its password if it has one.
  2. 2Choose a compression level.
  3. 3Compress, check the size saving, and download.

About this tool

Almost every upload form has a size limit, and scanned documents blow through it easily: a ten-page scan at 300 DPI can weigh 20 MB. Compressing rebuilds each page at a sensible resolution with efficient image compression, which is where nearly all of the saving comes from.

Four levels let you decide the trade-off. Light keeps pages crisp for printing. Balanced is the right default for email and portals. Strong and Maximum go further for documents that only need to be read on screen. The result panel shows the original size, the new size and the percentage saved, so you can try another level if the first is not enough.

Everything runs in your browser, which matters because the files people compress are usually the sensitive ones — contracts, medical letters, ID documents, tax returns. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored.

What it's good for

  • Getting a scanned contract under a 5 MB email limit.
  • Uploading documents to a portal that rejects large files.
  • Reducing a photo-heavy brochure before sending it to a client.
  • Archiving hundreds of scans without filling a drive.

Features

  • Four levels

    From light touch to maximum reduction.

  • Size report

    See exactly how much was saved before downloading.

  • Great on scans

    Image-heavy and scanned PDFs shrink the most.

  • Fully private

    Compression happens on your device only.

Questions people ask

Why did my file barely get smaller?
A PDF that is already pure text has little to compress. Try Optimize PDF, which rewrites the structure losslessly.
Will the text still be selectable?
No. Compressed pages become images. Use Optimize PDF if the text layer must survive.
Can I hit an exact size?
Yes — Reduce PDF Size takes a target in kilobytes and works towards it.
Is there a file size limit?
Only your device's memory. Very large files take longer but are processed the same way.

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