Compress PDF files
Reduce file size while optimizing for maximal PDF quality.
What Compress PDF does
Compress PDF reduces file size by re-encoding each page as an image at the quality you choose. That is the same trade-off the online services make, and it is worth understanding before you use it: at the strongest setting the text layer is replaced, so the result is no longer selectable or searchable. If the re-encoded file would not be smaller than the original, the original is returned unchanged rather than a larger file with a smaller-sounding name.
How to compress pdf
- Select the PDF you want to shrink.
- Choose a compression level — extreme, recommended or less compression.
- Press Compress PDF and check the before/after figures on the result page.
Privacy
Every page is rendered to a canvas inside your browser and re-embedded into a new PDF. Nothing is uploaded.
Questions
Will my text still be selectable?
No. Compression rasterises each page, so text becomes part of the image. If you need a searchable file, keep the original.
Why is my file the same size after compressing?
The tool will not hand back a bigger file. When rasterising would increase the size — common with already-image-heavy PDFs — you get the original bytes back and the result page says so plainly.
Can I compress a password-protected PDF?
Unlock it first. Compression needs to render every page, which a protected document will not allow without the password.