Reduce PDF Size Online

1. Upload your PDF (up to 50 MB).
2. Choose a compression level (Low, Medium, High, or Maximum).
3. Click 'Reduce PDF Size' — takes 5-30 seconds depending on size.
4. Download the smaller PDF.

PDFs are often large because they embed full-resolution images and fonts. Reducing the size means optimizing those embedded resources — typically 40-80% smaller with no visible quality loss on screen.

PDFs are often much larger than they need to be — a 10 MB PDF from a scanner or design export can often fit in 2 MB with no visible change. Large PDFs are hard to email, slow to upload, and expensive to store. Our compressor optimizes the embedded images (the biggest source of bloat) and metadata, typically achieving 40-80% size reduction.

The compressor analyzes the PDF's internal structure, downsamples high-resolution embedded images to screen-appropriate DPI, re-encodes them with efficient compression (JPEG for photos, Flate for graphics), and removes redundant metadata. Text and vector content are preserved losslessly. Output is PDF 1.7.

• Emailing large PDFs (many clients cap attachments at 10-25 MB).
• Uploading PDFs to systems with size limits.
• Reducing cloud storage costs for a PDF archive.
• Preparing PDFs for web download.
• Meeting upload caps on job portals and forms.
• Making a PDF easier to share over mobile networks.
• Optimizing scanned documents (usually the largest PDFs).

At Medium (120 DPI), most PDFs look identical to the original on screens — text is perfectly sharp (it's vector), and images are downsampled to screen-appropriate resolution. Higher compression levels reduce image quality visibly.

• Text and vector content is preserved (lossless).
• Embedded images are downsampled — may affect print quality.
• Scanned PDFs (image-based) compress well but text remains raster.
• Encrypted PDFs must be unlocked first.
• Very small PDFs (under 100 KB) may not benefit.
• Some very old PDFs may not compress as efficiently.

• Output PDF opens in every browser, reader, and OS.
• Text stays searchable and selectable.
• Editable in Adobe Acrobat, PDF-XChange, Foxit.
• Printable at the downsample resolution.
• Accepted by every document management system.

• Medium (120 DPI) is the sweet spot — 50-70% smaller with no visible loss.
• Scanned PDFs often compress dramatically — try High if size is critical.
• Text stays sharp at every level (vector content is lossless).
• Keep the original PDF if print quality matters.
• Test with a small file first for very large PDFs.

Text looks blurry after compression

Text is vector — it should stay sharp. If it looks blurry, the PDF was likely scanned (image-based text). Use a lower compression level for scans.

PDF is barely smaller

The PDF may already be optimized, or it contains mostly text (little to compress). Try the 'Maximum' level.

Images look pixelated

The compression level downsamples images. Use a lower level (Low or Medium) for higher image quality.

• PDF Association — ISO 32000
• Ghostscript — PDF compression