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Compress PDF to 100 KB

Make a PDF smaller than 100 KB for job applications, exam and admission portals, and government forms. The size is already set: drop your file and press Compress PDF.

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

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

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Compress PDF to 100 KB

Many upload forms reject PDFs above a fixed limit, and 100 KB is a common one: job applications, exam and admission portals, and government forms. This page is set up for exactly that. The tool first tries light compression and only moves to stronger levels if the file is still over 100 KB, so you get the best quality that fits.

A one-page scan usually fits under 100 KB easily. For several scanned pages, scan in black and white or grayscale at 150 to 200 dpi if you can: colour scans of plain paper waste most of their size on the paper tone.

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 get a PDF under 100 KB?

Drop the PDF on this page and press Compress PDF. The target is already 100 KB; you can change the number in Maximum size if your form asks for something else. The result shows the new size, and a note if it could not get under the limit.

What if the PDF is still bigger than 100 KB?

If Extreme is not enough, Best compression goes further, down to 50 dpi images, and asks you to check that small text is still readable. Very long documents or many full-page photos can still stay above 100 KB. Remove pages you do not need with Delete PDF Pages, or split the document into parts with Split PDF, then compress each part.

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.

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.

Related tools

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