PDF Compressor

Shrink a PDF to fit email attachment limits and upload caps. Strongest on scans and image-heavy documents, with three levels so you choose the trade-off.

Private by design: This tool re-renders and rebuilds your PDF locally in your browser. Your document is not uploaded to a server, and nothing is stored or logged. See how in-browser processing works.

How to use the pdf compressor

Drop your PDF files onto the upload area.
Pick a compression level: Balanced is right for most documents.
Click Compress and compare the before/after sizes.
Download each compressed PDF, or everything as a ZIP.

How it compresses, and the trade-off

This compressor re-renders every page and rebuilds the document with optimized page images. On scans and image-heavy files the savings are dramatic. The honest trade-off: the rebuilt pages are pictures, so text stops being selectable and searchable, and interactive elements like form fields and links are flattened. Keep your original for editing; share the compressed copy.

Which level to pick

Balanced is right for most documents, big savings, comfortably readable. Strong squeezes hardest for strict upload caps, at the cost of softer fine print. Light keeps detail crispest with smaller savings. Whatever you pick, the never-inflate rule applies: if compression can't beat your original, you get the original back.

Getting under common limits

The limits people actually fight: email attachments (25 MB on Gmail and Outlook.com, but as little as 10 MB on a work Exchange account), application portals (commonly 2-10 MB per document), and strict form fields that want 100-500 KB. Work the ladder: try Balanced first, step up to Strong for hard caps, and check the honest before/after number each time.

Emailing it? Getting a PDF under an email attachment limit lists what each provider actually allows, and explains why a 24 MB file can fail a 25 MB cap.

For precise targets like “under 100 KB”, page count matters more than settings: a one-page scan gets there easily; a fifty-page document may not at any readable quality. Our guide How to compress a PDF to 100 KB, 200 KB, or 1 MB walks the realistic paths target by target.

If compression alone isn't enough

When Strong still isn't small enough, reduce what you're compressing: Split PDF extracts only the pages the recipient actually needs, sending pages 1-3 instead of all 40 usually beats any compression setting. For scanned documents, re-scanning at a lower DPI (150 instead of 600) shrinks the source itself.

What shrinks well, and what doesn't

Scanned documents, photo-heavy reports, and design-rich PDFs routinely shrink 60-90%. Born-digital, text-only PDFs are already efficient: they often come back "already optimized", which is the correct answer, not a malfunction.

Safe for confidential documents

Contracts, statements, and IDs are exactly the files you shouldn't upload to a random server. Here the entire pipeline (rendering, rebuilding, compressing) runs in your browser; the document never leaves your device. See how in-browser processing works.

Good to know

Compression rebuilds each page as an optimized image. That makes scans dramatically smaller, but text in the result can no longer be selected or searched.
If you'll need that text later, pull it out with PDF to Text before compressing: afterwards there is nothing left to select.
If a file can't be made smaller, you get your original back unchanged: this tool never inflates a PDF.
For text-only PDFs that are already small, compression may have little to gain; it shines on scans, photos, and design-heavy pages.

Frequently asked questions

How much smaller will my PDF get?

Scanned and image-heavy PDFs often shrink 60-90% on Balanced. Digitally created, text-only PDFs are already efficient, so gains there are smaller, and if there's nothing to gain, you get your original file back.

Will my PDF still be readable?

Yes, pages keep their exact layout and print size. On Strong, fine print can soften; if a document needs to stay crisp, use Light or Balanced.

Why can't I select text in the compressed PDF?

To achieve big size cuts in the browser, pages are re-built as images, which flattens the text layer. If you need selectable text, keep the original alongside the compressed copy you share.

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. Compression runs entirely in your browser: your document never leaves your device.

Can I compress to a specific size, like 2 MB?

Not directly, pick a level, check the result, and step up to Strong if needed. For very strict caps, also consider whether every page is needed: Split PDF plus compression together go a long way.

Are page order and page size preserved?

Yes, pages keep their exact dimensions, orientation, and order; only their internal encoding changes.

Will fillable form fields still work?

No, rebuilding pages as images flattens form fields, links, and other interactive elements. Compress a copy, keep the interactive original.

Can I compress several PDFs at once?

Yes, drop in a batch; each file is processed and reported separately.

Guides for this tool

How to Compress a PDF to 100 KB, 200 KB, or 1 MBUpload forms don't negotiate: under the limit or rejected. Here's what each size target realistically takes, and the honest truth about when a target isn't reachable.
How to Get a PDF Under an Email Attachment LimitYour email bounced, the file is 24 MB, and the limit says 25 MB. That isn't a mistake: attachments get bigger in transit, and almost nobody tells you by how much. Here's the real number to aim for, and what each provider actually allows.
Why Is My PDF So Large?Twenty-two pages of plain text, and the file is 24 MB. Nothing on the page explains it. There is one test that identifies the cause in about ten seconds, and for most oversized PDFs the answer is the same.
How to Merge PDF Files (and Keep Them in Order)One attachment beats five. Merging PDFs takes under a minute. The part worth thinking about is order, and what to do when the combined file gets big.

PDF Compressor is one of 8 PDF tools, compress, merge, split, and convert PDFs, or pull out their text.