Compress PDF

See what it costs before you shrink it.

FREE · NO SIGN-UP · RUNS ON YOUR DEVICE

Your PDFs stay on your device

  • 2WAYS DOWN
  • 1PAGE PREVIEW
  • 0UPLOADS
  • 0SIGN-UP
Specification

Compress PDF at a glance

Input formats
PDF
Output formats
PDF
Keep the text
Text stays selectable
Make it much smaller
Pages become pictures
What you give up
No text selection
Maximum file size
Device memory
If it comes out bigger
Original returned
Price
Free
Account required
None
Where it runs
On your device
How to

How to use Compress PDF

  1. 1

    Add the PDF

    Add the file.

  2. 2

    Pick how far to go

    Pick a mode and setting.

  3. 3

    Check, then shrink

    Check the preview, download.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Why is my PDF so large in the first place?

Almost always photographs inside it. A scan or a phone photo is a full-resolution picture per page, and page count multiplies it.

Will the text still be selectable?

In the keep-the-text mode, yes, nothing about the text changes. In the smaller mode the page becomes a picture, so no.

Which setting should I use?

If the file is a scan there is no selectable text to lose, so redraw it. If it was made from a document, keep the text.

Why did mine barely get smaller?

A file that is mostly text is already small and well packed. The keep-the-text mode will say so rather than pretend.

Is anything uploaded?

No. The file is opened, drawn and rebuilt in this tab. It never leaves your device.

Background

What actually makes a PDF smaller

Two ways down: rewrite the file and keep every word selectable, or redraw the pages for a much smaller file.

  • Resolution. A page drawn at 96 dpi is roughly a quarter the pixels of one at 200 dpi.
  • Photo quality. Dropping from 90% to 70% is usually invisible on screen and cuts the size sharply.
  • Colour. Black and white can halve a scanned page again with no loss of legibility.
  • What does not help: removing metadata alone. It is measured in kilobytes, not megabytes.

Full specification

Specification of the Compress PDF tool
Input formatsPDF, including scans and files made by a phone camera.
Output formatsPDF.
Keep the textRewrites the file structure and drops metadata. Text, links and search are untouched.
Make it much smallerDraws each page as a picture at the detail and quality you pick. Best on scans.
What you give upIn the smaller mode the text becomes part of the picture, so it cannot be selected, searched or copied.
Maximum file sizeLimited only by your device memory. Large scans are slower because every page is drawn.
If it comes out biggerYour original file is what you download instead.
PriceFree. Supported by clearly labelled ads placed outside the working area.
Account requiredNo.
Where it runsIn your browser tab. The file is never sent anywhere.
Next step

Keep going with the same files

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