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PDF Tools

Compress PDF

Reduce a PDF's file size in your browser — choose Extreme, Recommended, or Less compression.

Select PDF files

or drop PDFs here

PDF files are processed locally in your browser and never uploaded. You can select more than one PDF; each is compressed, and when more than one is chosen the results are downloaded together in a zip file.

Compression level

Less compression re-saves the file and keeps its text selectable. Recommended and Extreme rebuild each page as an image at a lower resolution, so those files get much smaller but their text is no longer selectable or searchable. Choose Less if you need to keep copying text from the PDF. After processing, the result shows the original and new file sizes so you can see exactly what was saved.

Related tools: Merge PDF, Split PDF, Organize PDF

About Compress PDF

Compress PDF reduces a PDF's file size by re-saving it in your browser, using a compression level you choose. It is made for PDFs that are too large to email or upload, where a smaller file would be much easier to share. The page count and page content stay the same; only the file's internal packaging is tightened.

How much a PDF shrinks depends on what is inside it. Files with repeated structure, metadata and uncompressed objects can shrink noticeably. Scanned image pages, by contrast, are already images, and re-saving does not recompress those images — so a scanned document may shrink only a little. The tool states that limit plainly rather than promising a size it cannot deliver.

How to use Compress PDF

  1. Choose a PDF with “Select PDF file”.
  2. Read the options panel, which explains what re-saving does and what it does not do.
  3. Press “Compress PDF”.
  4. Download the compressed file, named compressed.pdf.

Why use Compress PDF

A smaller file that still opens and prints the same — with an honest explanation of what re-saving can and cannot do.

Your files and privacy

Your PDF is compressed in your browser and is never uploaded to a server.

Honest limits

Browser re-saving reduces some overhead, but it does not recompress scanned images like a desktop tool. A scanned PDF may therefore shrink only slightly.

Frequently asked questions

How much smaller will my PDF get?

It depends on the file. Re-saving removes some overhead, but it does not recompress scanned images like a desktop tool.

Can I compress a PDF more than once?

Re-saving an already compressed PDF rarely shrinks it further, because the overhead has already been removed. If a second run gives no reduction, the file is already as compact as browser re-saving can make it.

Will compression change how my PDF looks?

No. Pages, text and images are preserved; only the file's internal structure is re-saved more compactly.

Why is there no quality slider?

This browser tool re-saves the PDF with object streams. It does not recompress images, so a quality slider would not change the result and is not offered.

What if my PDF barely shrinks?

That usually means the file is mostly scanned images. For those, a desktop PDF tool that recompresses images is the better option.