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Compress PDF

Make PDF files smaller for email, upload forms and sharing, while keeping text sharp and selectable.

Free · no sign-up · no watermark · files deleted right after

Drop a PDF here

or click to choose · up to 50 MB (100 MB on this device)

Choose PDF

Compress PDF

Scanned documents, phone photos saved as PDF and slide decks are often many megabytes, too big for email attachments and for upload forms that ask for "PDF under 200 KB". This tool makes them small again. It re-encodes the images inside the PDF at a sensible resolution, removes duplicate images and unused data, subsets fonts and packs everything tightly, while text, links and fonts stay real, selectable text.

Best compression runs Ghostscript and qpdf, the same open-source engines behind many well-known PDF services, on our server in the EU. Your file is deleted the moment the compressed copy is sent back. If you would rather not upload at all, switch to On this device and the PDF is compressed in your browser instead.

How to compress a PDF

  1. Drop your PDF onto the box, or click to choose it.
  2. Pick a level, or choose Target size and type the size you need.
  3. Press Compress PDF. The result shows the size before and after.
  4. Download the smaller PDF.

Compress a PDF to a specific size

Frequently asked questions

How do I compress a PDF to 100 KB or 200 KB?

Choose Target size, type 100 or 200, and press Compress PDF. The tool tries Less, then Recommended, then Extreme, and with Best compression two stronger steps after that (72 and 50 dpi), stopping at the first result that fits. If nothing fits, you get the smallest version and a note; removing pages or splitting the PDF helps then.

What is the difference between the compression levels?

Less keeps images close to their original quality (about 220 dpi) and suits documents you will print. Recommended brings images to 150 dpi, which looks the same on screen and usually cuts scanned PDFs by 80 to 95 percent. Extreme uses 96 dpi and stronger JPEG compression for the smallest file, with some visible softening of photos.

Is my PDF safe? Is it stored?

With Best compression, your PDF travels over an encrypted HTTPS connection to our server in the EU, is compressed by Ghostscript, sent straight back and deleted at once. It is not stored, copied, logged or looked at. If you prefer that the file never leaves your computer, choose On this device.

Will the text still be selectable?

Yes with Best compression: text, links and fonts stay real text, only images are re-encoded. On this device, Recommended and Extreme turn pages into images for a bigger reduction, so text is no longer selectable there.

Why did my PDF not get smaller?

A PDF that is mostly text, or was already compressed well, has little left to remove. In that case the tool gives you your original file back rather than a bigger one.

Is there a size limit?

Best compression accepts PDFs up to 50 MB. On this device handles up to 100 MB, depending on your computer's memory. Password-protected PDFs must be unlocked first.

Related tools

Best compression uses Ghostscript (AGPL-3.0, unmodified) and qpdf (Apache-2.0). On this device uses pdf.js and pdf-lib.