If you've ever hit an email attachment limit, or seen a 'PDF file is too large' message on a school or government upload form, that's the moment you need to compress a PDF. Documents photographed on a phone or scanned in particular tend to carry high-resolution images and can easily reach tens of megabytes. This tool shrinks those PDFs right in your browser.
It works in a simple way. Each page is re-rendered as an image at an appropriate resolution, recompressed as JPEG, and bundled back into a single PDF. You can choose from three levels, so you decide whether to preserve quality as much as possible or to prioritize the smallest possible size. Everything happens entirely on your own device, so even sensitive documents like contracts or ID copies never leave it.
How to Use
- 1
Select a PDF
Drag in the PDF you want to compress, or add it with the 'Choose files' button. Up to 200MB is supported.
- 2
Choose a level
Pick the level that fits your goal from Strong, Recommended, or High quality. If you're not sure, go with 'Recommended'.
- 3
Run compression
Click 'Compress PDF' and your browser re-processes each page. The more pages there are, the longer it takes.
- 4
Review & download
Check the savings versus the original and download the compressed PDF. If you're not happy, try again at a different level.
When It's Useful
Fit an email attachment limit
Shrink a PDF that exceeds the attachment cap so you can send it in one go by email or messenger.
Government & school uploads
Compress scanned documents that hit upload size limits back within the allowed range.
Tidy up phone-photographed documents
Greatly reduce photo PDFs that ballooned to tens of megabytes because they were captured at high resolution.
Lighten files for storage & sharing
Make on-screen viewing materials lighter to save storage space and transfer time.
Tips
- The more scans and photos a PDF contains, the bigger the compression effect.
- PDFs made up of text only are already small and may not shrink — or may even grow.
- If the file is for on-screen viewing or submission rather than printing, 'Strong' is usually perfectly readable.
- If you need to select or copy text in the document, that ability disappears after compression, so keep the original separately.
- The result screen shows the savings, so if you're not satisfied, compare 'Recommended' and 'Strong' back and forth.
- If you have several files, bundle them first with 'Merge PDF' and compress them in one pass for easier management.
FAQ
How many compression levels are there?
Three: 'Strong', 'Recommended', and 'High quality'. If you're not sure, use 'Recommended' for a good balance of size and quality.
Does compressing reduce quality a lot?
It depends on the level. 'High quality' is hard to tell apart from the original, while 'Strong' is fine for on-screen reading but may look a little blurry when zoomed in.
How does the compression work?
Each page is re-rendered as an image at an appropriate resolution, recompressed as JPEG, and bundled into a single PDF. That's why it works so well on photos and scans.
Can I still copy the text?
This compression method rebuilds pages as images, so the ability to select and copy text disappears. If keeping the text matters, hold on to the original.
My file got bigger instead.
That happens when the original is already a well-optimized text PDF. In that case compression won't help, so use the original as-is or try a different level.
How large a file can I use?
Up to 200MB is supported. The more pages there are, the longer the re-processing takes.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. Compression runs 100% inside your browser, and files are never sent anywhere.
What happens to my original file?
The original stays untouched; you download a new, compressed copy.