Compress PDF
Shrink a PDF's file size by recompressing the images embedded in it.
How to use the Compress PDF
- Upload the PDF you want to make smaller.
- Choose a compression level: Low for best quality, Medium for a balance, or High for the smallest file.
- Click Run and download the compressed PDF.
- Compare the file size and check the images still look good enough for your purpose.
How the Compress PDF works
In most large PDFs, photos and scanned pages take up far more space than the text. The compressor finds the JPEG images embedded in each page and re-encodes them at a lower JPEG quality: about 80 for Low, 60 for Medium and 35 for High compression. If re-encoding an image wouldn't make it smaller, the original is kept.
Text, vector graphics and fonts are left untouched, so text stays sharp and selectable at every level. PDFs that are mostly text, or whose images use other formats, won't shrink much. Files are processed on our server and discarded straight away.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this PDF compressor free?
- Yes. Compress PDFs at no cost, with no account required.
- How does compression work?
- The tool re-encodes the photos and scanned images embedded in your PDF at a lower quality level, which is usually where most of a PDF's file size comes from. Text and vector content are left untouched.
- Will a text-only PDF get smaller?
- PDFs with little or no embedded imagery won't shrink much, since there are few images to recompress.