Compress PDF
Make PDFs small enough to email or upload. Images inside the PDF are resized and re-compressed, while text, links and vector graphics stay exactly as they are, so the document still looks sharp and text stays searchable.
Free · No sign-up · Files stay on your device
How to use Compress PDF
- 1Choose the PDF you want to compress.
- 2Pick a compression level: Light, Recommended or Strong.
- 3Click "Compress PDF" and compare the before and after sizes.
- 4Download the smaller PDF.
Features
- Three compression levels
- Text stays sharp, selectable and searchable
- Shrinks embedded photos and scans
- Never returns a bigger file than you started with
- Confidential PDFs never leave your device
How much smaller will my PDF get?
It depends on what is inside. Scanned documents and PDFs with photos often shrink by 50–90%. PDFs that are mostly text are already small, so they may shrink only a little. If compression would make a file bigger, you get the original back.
Which level should I choose?
Recommended keeps images sharp on screen and in normal printing, and suits email and web portals. Strong gives the smallest files and is ideal for meeting tight upload limits; photos look softer when zoomed in. Light keeps images close to original quality.
Is text affected?
No. Unlike tools that turn every page into a picture, this compressor only touches embedded images. Text stays selectable and searchable, and fonts, links and form layout are kept.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my PDF barely shrink?
It is probably mostly text and vector graphics, which are already very compact. Compression mainly reduces the size of photos and scanned pages.
Can I compress a PDF to under 1 MB?
Often, yes. Try "Strong". For long scanned documents, splitting the PDF into parts with our Split PDF tool also helps.
Is it safe for confidential documents?
Yes. Compression runs in your browser and the file is never uploaded to any server.