Compress PDF
Make your PDFs smaller so you can email or upload them.
Reduce the size of a PDF so you can email it, upload it to a form with a size limit or simply store it in less space. Choose how much to compress and download a lighter PDF with its text intact, with no sign-up and no watermarks.
How to compress a PDF
- Select the PDFs you want to compress (up to 5).
- Choose the compression level: recommended works for almost everything.
- Click “Compress PDF” and wait a few seconds.
- Download the compressed PDF, or a ZIP if there are several.
What gets compressed and what doesn’t
In almost every PDF, the images take up most of the space: photos, scanned pages, charts saved as pictures. That’s where we work:
- High-resolution images are reduced to the resolution of the level you choose. A page scanned at 300 dpi or a phone photo placed on an A4 page has far more pixels than you need to read it.
- Images are saved again as JPEG, at the quality of the level.
- Text stays text: you can still select, copy and search it, and it looks just as sharp at any zoom. Vector graphics don’t change either.
- Links and bookmarks are kept (the document’s side index).
So how much smaller the file gets depends on the PDF. A scanned document or one full of photos often shrinks to a fraction of its size, while a text-only PDF exported from Word barely changes, because text already takes up very little space.
You never get a heavier PDF back: if we can’t make it smaller, you receive a losslessly reorganised version or the original as it is, whichever is lighter.
Which level to choose
| Level | Images | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Low | About 220 dpi, high-quality JPEG | Documents you’ll print, or photos that need to show fine detail |
| Recommended | About 150 dpi, medium-quality JPEG | Email, uploading to a website or archiving: easy to read on screen and when printed at home |
| Strong | About 96 dpi, more compressed JPEG | Forms with a very low size limit, or PDFs that will only be viewed on screen |
Only images well above the level’s resolution are reduced; the rest keep theirs. If the recommended level doesn’t get you under the size you need, try the strong one.
PDFs with forms
If your PDF has fields to fill in, we leave its images alone and only reorganise it losslessly, so the fields keep working. The saving is smaller, but you can still fill in the form.
Digital signatures and protected PDFs
Compressing changes the file, so a digital signature stops being valid: compress the PDF before you sign it. We also can’t compress protected PDFs, whether they need a password to open or only restrict printing, copying or editing.
Limitations
- Up to 5 PDFs at once, 50 MB per PDF, 100 MB in total and 500 pages per document.
- We don’t turn the text of a scan into selectable text (no text recognition).
- To remove pages you don’t need, use Split PDF. And if it’s a photo you want to make smaller, use Compress JPG.
Frequently asked questions
How do I reduce the size of a PDF?
Upload the PDF on this page, keep the recommended compression and click “Compress PDF”. A few seconds later you download a lighter PDF with its text intact.
Does compressing a PDF reduce its quality?
Text and vector graphics lose nothing. What changes are the images: with the recommended level they look good on screen and when printed at home; if you need more detail, choose the low level.
Why did my PDF barely get smaller?
Because it has few images, or they were already compressed. Text PDFs exported from Word or other programs take up very little space and there isn’t much to reduce; scanned PDFs and those with photos shrink the most.
What if the PDF is still too big for an online form?
Try the strong level, which reduces the images further. If that’s still not enough, remove the pages you don’t need or split the document into parts with the split PDF tool.
Can I compress several PDFs at once?
Yes, up to 5 PDFs at a time, with 50 MB per document and 100 MB in total. Each one is compressed separately and you download them together in a ZIP.