PDF Compress

Reduce PDF file size by optimizing embedded images.

100% Private — Your files never leave your device.

All processing happens in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to any server.

Drop a file here or click to browse

Supports: PDF files

Max 50MB per file

Image Quality

Lower = smaller file. Only affects embedded images — text stays crisp.

20%95%

Max Image Resolution

Downscales images larger than this. Lower = smaller file.

500px3000px

Upload a PDF to compress it

Reduces file size by recompressing embedded images — text stays sharp

How it works

Why Compress PDFs?

PDFs with embedded images can balloon to tens of megabytes. Email services typically cap attachments at 10-25MB, web portals have upload limits, and large files waste storage. Compression makes PDFs practical to share and store.

How It Works

Upload a PDF file
Adjust the quality slider (lower = smaller file)
Click “Compress PDF” — your browser renders each page and rebuilds the file
Download the compressed result

Everything happens locally. No files are uploaded anywhere.

Quality Guide

Quality	File Size Reduction	Visual Quality	Best For
80-95%	20-40% smaller	Near-identical	High-quality sharing
60-75%	40-65% smaller	Good for screen	Email, web uploads
40-55%	60-80% smaller	Acceptable	Maximum compression
20-35%	75-90% smaller	Noticeable loss	Thumbnails, quick reference

Limitations

Text-heavy PDFs with few images won’t compress much since there’s little image data to optimize.
Text becomes non-selectable in compressed output (pages are rendered as images).
Very large PDFs (100+ pages) may take 30-60 seconds to process in your browser.

Real-World Examples

Email attachment under 10MB

Quality: 70

A realtor has a 25MB property listing PDF full of high-resolution photos. At 70% quality, it compresses to 8MB — under the 10MB email attachment limit. The photos still look great on screen.

Uploading to a government portal

Quality: 60

A business owner needs to submit a 45MB tax document to a portal with a 5MB limit. At 60% quality, the file shrinks to 4.2MB while keeping all text and forms readable.

Archiving project documents

Quality: 50

A project manager has 200MB of project PDFs to archive. At 50% quality, the collection shrinks to 40MB — saving 80% of storage while keeping documents readable for reference.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does PDF compression work?

Our tool renders each PDF page as an image at your chosen quality level, then rebuilds the PDF with these optimized images. This is most effective on PDFs with embedded photos and graphics — the visual quality is reduced slightly to achieve much smaller file sizes.

Will compressed PDFs still be readable?

Yes. At 70-80% quality, most people cannot tell the difference from the original. Text remains clear and images look good on screen. Below 50%, you may notice some blurriness in photos, but text is still readable.

Why didn't my PDF get smaller?

Some PDFs are already well-optimized. Text-heavy PDFs with few images won't shrink much since the text is re-rendered as an image. This tool works best on PDFs containing photos, charts, and graphics.

Does compression affect text searchability?

Yes — the compressed PDF renders pages as images, so text is no longer selectable or searchable. If you need searchable text, keep the original for reference and use the compressed version only for sharing.

What's the best quality setting?

For sharing via email: 60-70%. For web uploads: 50-70%. For archival (where you want reasonable quality): 75-85%. For maximum compression regardless of quality: 30-50%.

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