How to use the Compress PDF tool
- Choose one or more PDF files.
- Pick a level: light, recommended or strong.
- Click “Compress PDF”.
- Check the new size and download the file, or all files as a ZIP.
How PDF compression works
In most large PDFs, the pictures take up most of the space: scanned pages, photos and screenshots. The tool finds every image in the document, scales oversized images down to a sensible resolution and saves them again as efficient JPEG. Then it rewrites the file structure, packs objects into compressed streams and removes unused data.
Text, vector graphics, fonts, links and form fields are kept as they are, so the text stays sharp and searchable.
Which level should I choose?
- Light: barely visible changes. Good for brochures and photos you may print.
- Recommended: the best balance for reading on screen and printing on an office printer.
- Strong: the smallest file. Pictures get softer, which is fine for scanned letters and forms you only need to read.
If a file hardly gets smaller, it probably contains mostly text and vector drawings, which are already compact. A PDF can also be compressed already by the program that created it.
Privacy
Everything runs in your browser. Your files and text are not uploaded to our server or stored anywhere. This matters for contracts, bank statements and ID scans, which most online compressors upload to their servers.
Frequently asked questions
How much smaller will my PDF get?
Scanned documents and files with many photos often shrink by 50 to 90 percent. Text-only PDFs change little because there is not much to remove.
Does compression reduce quality?
Only the images are re-encoded. Text and vector graphics are not touched. With the light level, the difference is hard to see.
Is there a file size limit?
There is no fixed limit. Very large files (several hundred MB) depend on the memory of your device, so a computer works better than an older phone.
Can I compress a password-protected PDF?
Remove the password first with the Unlock PDF tool, then compress the file and protect it again if you need to.