Compress PDF

Shrink scanned PDFs so they fit email and form upload limits.

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How to use it

  1. Step 1

    Choose one PDF file.

  2. Step 2

    Pick Light, Balanced or Strong compression.

  3. Step 3

    Press Compress PDF and wait while each page is processed.

  4. Step 4

    Download the smaller file. If it is still too big, run it again with Strong.

About this tool

Scanned documents and photo-heavy PDFs can be tens of megabytes, which email and application portals often reject. This tool redraws every page as a compressed picture and rebuilds the PDF at the original page size.

The trade-off is important: the result is made of page pictures, so text can no longer be selected, copied or searched. That is fine for scans, forms to print or sign, and photo documents. If your PDF is mostly real text and you need to keep it searchable, this is not the right tool.

Strong compression uses the lowest resolution and may make small print hard to read, so check the result before you send it. If the new file would not be smaller than the original, the tool tells you instead of giving you a bigger file. Everything runs in your browser; the document is not uploaded.

Questions

Why can I not select text in the compressed PDF?

Each page is saved as a picture to reduce the size. Text becomes part of the picture.

How much smaller will it get?

Scans often shrink by 50% to 90%. PDFs that are mostly text may not shrink at all.

Which setting should I use?

Start with Balanced. Use Light if the print is small, and Strong if you must meet a tight size limit.

Is my PDF uploaded?

No. The pages are processed on your device.

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