PDF Compressor
Reduce PDF file size with three quality presets. See exact before/after savings before downloading.
Drop a PDF here
or click to browse
How it works
Upload your PDF
Drop a PDF onto the upload area or click to browse.
Pick a preset
Choose Screen, Balanced, or Print depending on how you will use the file.
Compress & download
See the before/after size, then download the compressed PDF instantly.
When PDF compression matters
Portal and form submission limits
Uploading to a portal or submission form is the most common reason. Many government sites, application systems, and client platforms enforce file size limits — often 5 or 10 MB. A scanned document or image-heavy report frequently lands above that. The Screen preset usually brings it well under.
Email attachment size
Email attachments are another everyday need. Most mail servers cap attachments at 25 MB, and anything heavier than 5 MB tends to slow down delivery or get blocked. Compressing a scanned contract or photo-heavy brochure first makes the send more reliable and faster for the recipient.
Archiving scanned documents
Archiving old scanned documents. If you are storing hundreds of scanned pages on a drive with limited space, running them through the Balanced preset can cut the total storage footprint significantly without affecting readability for future reference.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The entire compression process runs in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.
Which PDFs compress best?
Scanned documents and image-heavy PDFs compress the most — often 50–80% smaller. PDFs that are mostly text or vector graphics see little reduction because the text is already stored efficiently.
What do the compression presets do?
Screen (smallest): renders at 72 DPI with 65% JPEG quality — ideal for email and web. Balanced: 108 DPI, 80% quality — good for sharing and ebooks. Print: 144 DPI, 90% quality — higher fidelity for printing.
Will text look blurry after compression?
Compression works by rasterizing pages to JPEG, so vector text is converted to pixels. At Balanced or Print quality the result is sharp enough for reading. Use the Print preset if text clarity is important.
Does it work with password-protected PDFs?
No. Password-protected PDFs cannot be read or compressed. Remove the password first, then compress.
Will the PDF still be searchable after compression?
This tool compresses by rendering each page as an image and re-encoding it as JPEG. Any selectable text in the original is converted to pixels, so the output is not searchable or copyable. If text selectability matters, use a tool that compresses without rasterizing, such as Ghostscript or Adobe Acrobat.
How much smaller will my file actually be?
It depends on the content. A scanned image-heavy PDF can shrink 70–80% on the Screen preset. A PDF that is already mostly vector text and simple graphics may only shrink 5–15% because the text is already stored efficiently. The before/after size is shown before download so you can judge whether it is worth keeping.
Can I compress multiple PDFs at once?
Currently one file at a time. Download the output, then upload the next file. Each compression runs entirely in your browser, so there is no server queue to wait in.