peartools

Compress PDF

Reduce the file size of a PDF so it fits under an upload limit or sends by email. Photos and scans are recompressed, and leftover data is removed, while the text stays sharp and searchable. You see the new size before you download. Everything runs in your browser.

Drag and drop your PDF here, or

Up to 100 MB. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

What compressing a PDF does

Text in a PDF takes very little room. A page of it is usually a few kilobytes. What makes a PDF big is nearly always the images inside it: photos placed at full camera resolution, or scanned pages stored as large pictures.

Compressing goes through each image and saves it again as a JPEG at the quality you pick. An image with far more pixels than the page can show is scaled down first. A 4000 pixel wide photo placed on an A4 page holds about 480 dpi, and nobody can see the difference between that and 150 dpi on a screen.

The file is also cleaned up. Images or fonts stored more than once are kept once, objects nothing points to any more are removed, and the internal structure is packed into compressed blocks. None of this changes how a page looks.

Why use our PDF compressor

  • ·Your text stays text. Only images are recompressed, so the file stays searchable and links, bookmarks, and form fields keep working.
  • ·You see the size first. The old and new size are shown before you download, so you can try another level until it fits.
  • ·It never makes a file worse for nothing. An image is only replaced when the new version is clearly smaller, and you are told when a file cannot be shrunk.
  • ·A separate mode for scans. Turn every page into a JPEG when the file is a scan and nothing on it is real text anyway.
  • ·Nothing is uploaded. Bank statements, contracts, and ID scans are the files people most often need to shrink. This one never leaves your tab.

How to compress a PDF

  1. 1

    Add your PDF

    Drag the file onto the box or click to pick it. The tool shows its current size, page count, and how many images are inside, since images are usually what makes a PDF big.

  2. 2

    Pick a compression level

    Recommended suits most files. Light keeps images sharper and saves less. Strong gives the smallest file and is good for meeting an upload limit.

  3. 3

    Choose what to keep

    Keep text and links leaves the document working as before and only shrinks the images. Turn pages into images is for scans, where every page is already a picture.

  4. 4

    Compress and download

    The tool shows the old size, the new size, and how much smaller the file got. If you are happy with it, download the compressed PDF. If not, try another level first.

PDF compression levels and modes

Each level sets two things: the most detail an image keeps relative to the page, measured in dots per inch (dpi), and how hard the JPEG is compressed.

  • ·Light keeps images at up to 200 dpi with high JPEG quality. Use it for anything that will be printed, or when the photos matter.
  • ·Recommended keeps images at up to 150 dpi. Pages look the same on a screen, and documents still print cleanly.
  • ·Strong keeps images at up to 100 dpi with lower JPEG quality. Photos lose fine detail and may show blocky edges up close, but scanned text stays readable. Use it to get under a strict size limit.

Keep text and links is the default mode and the right one for almost every file. Text, lines, and shapes are never touched, so they stay sharp and searchable.

Turn pages into images renders each page as a JPEG at the level's resolution and builds a new PDF from those pictures. It suits scans, where the pages are pictures already, and it works even when the scan is stored in a format a browser cannot recompress. On a normal text document it usually makes the file bigger, and it removes links, bookmarks, form fields, and selectable text.

Why some PDFs do not get much smaller

Compression removes waste. If a file has little waste in it, there is little to remove. These are the usual reasons a PDF shrinks by only a few percent:

  • ·It is mostly text. A 100 page report with no photos might be 500 KB, and most of that is the fonts it needs to display. There is not much more to save.
  • ·It was compressed already. Files saved with a "smallest size" or "for web" option have images that are already small. Saving them again would cost quality and save almost nothing, so they are left alone.
  • ·Its images use a format a browser cannot open. Images stored as JPEG 2000, JBIG2, or fax compression, or in CMYK print colors, are kept as they are. JBIG2 and fax compression are usually very small already. For the others, try Turn pages into images.
  • ·The size is in something other than images. Files with attachments embedded inside them, or with many large fonts, keep those parts at their full size.

If a file still will not fit a limit, make it shorter instead. Split the PDF into parts and send them one at a time, or delete pages from the PDF that the recipient does not need, like blank backs of scanned sheets.

When to compress a PDF

Any time a file is too big for where it needs to go:

  • ·Anyone hitting an upload limit. Job applications, visa and government forms, school portals, and insurance claims often cap uploads at a few megabytes. Compressing is usually enough to get under the limit.
  • ·Anyone emailing a PDF. Gmail limits attachments to 25 MB and turns anything larger into a Google Drive link. Even under the limit, a big attachment is slow for the person receiving it.
  • ·Anyone sending scanned documents. Phone scanning apps and office scanners often save every page as a large, high resolution image. A 20 page scan can easily run to tens of megabytes.
  • ·Anyone sharing a PDF made from a design app. Files exported from design software often carry full resolution photos and a hidden copy of the editing data. Both can go without changing how the pages look.

If the PDF is locked, remove the password with our unlock PDF tool first. If you are combining several files into one, merge the PDFs before compressing, so a logo or other image repeated across them is stored only once.

Related PDF tools

Frequently asked questions

How do I compress a PDF for free?
Add your PDF, keep the Recommended level, and click Compress PDF. The tool shows the new size before you download it. There is no signup, no watermark, no limit on how many files you compress, and the file is never uploaded.
How do I reduce PDF file size without losing quality?
Use the Light level with Keep text and links. Text, lines, and shapes are never changed in that mode, so they stay perfectly sharp. Only the images are recompressed, and Light keeps them at up to 200 dpi, which looks the same as the original on screen and in most prints.
Why is my PDF file so large?
Almost always because of images. A photo straight from a phone camera can be several megabytes on its own, and a scanner set to a high resolution stores every page as a big picture. Other causes are fonts embedded in full, the same image saved again on every page, and old versions of pages that some editors keep inside the file after each save.
Why did my PDF barely get smaller?
Either the file was already compressed well, or what is making it big is something this tool does not change. A PDF that is mostly text is already small for its length. Images stored as JPEG 2000, JBIG2, or CMYK cannot be decoded by a web browser, so they are left as they are. If the file is a scan, try Turn pages into images.
How do I compress a PDF to under 1 MB or 2 MB?
Start with Strong. If it is a scanned document, also switch to Turn pages into images, which usually gets a few pages well under 1 MB. If a long file is still too big, split it into parts with our split PDF tool, or delete pages that are not needed.
Does compressing a PDF make the text blurry?
Not with Keep text and links. Text stays as real text and is drawn sharp at any zoom. Turn pages into images is different: each page becomes a picture, so text looks soft when you zoom in, more so at the Strong level.
Can I compress a scanned PDF?
Yes. Scans are where compression helps the most, because every page is a large image. Keep text and links recompresses the page images in place. If that does not save much, Turn pages into images renders each page again as a JPEG at the chosen resolution.
Do links, bookmarks, and form fields still work after compressing?
Yes, with Keep text and links. Only the images and the internal storage of the file change. With Turn pages into images they do not, because every page is rebuilt as a picture with nothing on top of it.
Will compressing a PDF break a digital signature?
Yes. A digital signature checks that the file has not changed since it was signed, and compressing changes it. The signature will still look the same on the page, but readers will report it as invalid. Compress before signing, not after.
Can I compress a password protected PDF?
Not directly, because the file has to be read and rebuilt. Remove the password with our unlock PDF tool first, compress the unlocked file, and add a password back afterwards if you need one.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is opened, compressed, and rebuilt inside your browser tab. It is never sent to a server, and once the page has loaded the tool keeps working offline.

Compression cannot be undone. Keep the original file if you may need the full quality images again.