Shrink a PDF's file size for easier sharing and storage.
Free tier supports files up to 50MB.
A PDF that's too large to email, too slow to upload, or eating into shared storage is a common frustration — especially for scanned documents, where a few dozen high-resolution photos of paper pages can easily add up to tens of megabytes. Compression trades a controlled amount of visual quality for a meaningfully smaller file, and the right level depends entirely on what you're going to do with the result.
Most of the file size in a scanned or image-heavy PDF comes from the embedded page images, not the text or structure around them. Compression works by re-encoding those images at a lower resolution and a lower image quality setting, which is exactly where the size savings come from — and exactly why there's a visible tradeoff as you push the compression level higher.
"Extreme" compression pushes resolution and quality down aggressively, producing the smallest possible file — a good choice when you just need to get a document under an email attachment limit and fine detail doesn't matter. "Recommended" aims for a balance that looks good on screen and in most prints while still cutting file size substantially. "Less Compression" keeps quality closest to the original, useful when a document contains fine print, detailed diagrams, or photographs where clarity matters more than file size.
Compression tools that work by re-rendering pages as images treat every page the same way, whether it started as a scanned photo or a clean, text-based document exported from a word processor. For a text-heavy PDF that was already small and efficient, this kind of compression can occasionally produce a file that's the same size or even larger than the original, since a rasterized image doesn't compress as efficiently as native text. If your PDF is already small and mostly text, compression may not help — and it's worth checking the before-and-after size before you commit to sending the compressed version.
Because compression works by converting each page into an image, any text that was selectable or searchable in the original PDF will no longer be selectable in the compressed version — it becomes part of a picture, just like a scanned page. If you need to keep text searchable, consider compressing only when file size is the priority, and keep the original uncompressed file as your working copy for anything that requires copying text or running OCR.
Usually, especially for scanned or image-heavy PDFs. For small, text-only PDFs, compression can occasionally increase file size — always check the before/after comparison before downloading.
Yes. Every page is rasterized into an image during compression, so any text that was selectable or searchable in the original will not be in the compressed file.
"Extreme" or "Recommended" are usually enough to get a file comfortably under most email attachment limits while staying readable on screen.
Yes, but each pass re-compresses already-compressed images, which compounds quality loss. It's best to compress the original file once at your chosen level rather than repeatedly compressing an already-compressed result.
No — this tool processes your PDF entirely in your browser; the file is never uploaded anywhere to be compressed.
Lower compression levels use a lower rendering resolution and JPEG quality to achieve a smaller file size, which naturally softens fine detail. Try "Less Compression" for a sharper result at a larger file size.