Compress a PDF
Shrink a PDF to get under an upload or attachment limit. Pick a quality level, and you will see exactly how much smaller the result is before you download it.
Your file is processed on your device and is never uploaded.
What this tool does
- See the before and after size before downloading
- Three quality levels, with a live page preview
- Keeps the original page dimensions
How to use compress pdf
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Add your PDF
Drop in the file you want to shrink.
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Pick a quality level
Start with Balanced. Drop to Small if you need to go further.
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Check the result
Compare the preview and the new file size, then download.
Frequently asked questions
How does this compress my PDF?
It renders each page to an image at a chosen resolution and quality, then assembles those images into a new PDF. This is very effective on scans and image-heavy documents, which are usually the large ones.
Will my text still be selectable afterwards?
No, and this is the important trade-off. Because pages are rasterised, the result is a picture of your document — text can no longer be selected, searched or copied. If you need to keep text selectable, try removing unused pages instead, or compress the images before building the PDF.
Why did my PDF barely get smaller?
PDFs that are mostly plain text are already small and compress poorly with this method — occasionally the result is even slightly larger. The tool tells you when that happens and lets you keep the original. Big savings come from scanned pages and embedded photographs.
Can I compress to an exact file size?
Not directly. Pick the quality level that lands closest to your target — the resulting size is shown for each. For an exact target on a single image, use Compress Image, which can aim at a specific number of kilobytes.