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Compress PDF

Make a PDF small enough to email. Two modes are offered because they trade off differently between size and quality.

Files are never uploaded

How to use it

Add the PDF

Drop the document above or click to browse. Its current size is shown so you have a baseline to compare against.

Pick the mode

Lossless rewrite keeps text selectable and links working. Maximum shrink rasterises every page, which is dramatic on scans but turns text into an image.

Choose the shrink level

This applies only to Maximum mode: Light keeps 144 dpi, Balanced uses 108 dpi, and Maximum drops to 72 dpi for the smallest file.

Compress

Press the button. Large documents take a little longer in Maximum mode, because every page has to be re-rendered as an image.

Compare and download

A before and after size readout appears under the card. If the saving is disappointing, try the other mode and compare the two results before deciding which to keep.

Common issues

Maximum shrink on a text document can look soft

Rasterising turns crisp text into pixels. On a contract or a report with small print the words can become fuzzy at 72 dpi. Use Light, or stay on lossless, for anything text-heavy.

Links and form fields stop working after maximum shrink

Because the pages become images, clickable links and interactive fields are lost along with the vector content. Keep the lossless mode if the document contains links you need.

Lossless mode does not shrink image-heavy PDFs

If a document is mostly scans or photos, the pages are already compressed and repacking cannot do much. The dramatic savings come from Maximum shrink, with the quality trade-off that brings.

Frequently asked questions

Which mode should I choose for a scanned document?
Maximum shrink. Scanned pages are already pictures, so rasterising them at a lower resolution removes the most data without losing selectable text that never existed.
Which mode should I choose for a text document?
Lossless rewrite. It keeps every word selectable and searchable, and the saving comes from packing the file structure rather than from destroying content.
Why did maximum shrink make my file look blurry?
The pages are re-rendered as images at a lower resolution. That is the trade-off — choose Light instead of Maximum if the output is too soft.
Will a compressed PDF still open everywhere?
Yes. The output is a standard PDF with no special requirements.
Is my document uploaded?
No. Compression runs in the browser; the file never leaves your device.
Why did a lossless rewrite barely change the size?
Lossless mode repacks the file structure instead of discarding content. If the bulk of the document is made of images that were already compressed, there is little left to remove, so use Maximum shrink instead.
Does maximum shrink make the document unsearchable?
The words stay visible, but they become pixels, so you can no longer select, copy or search the text. If the document must stay searchable, choose the lossless mode.
Can I compress to an exact target size?
Not to an exact figure. The result depends on the content and the chosen resolution. Run the tool at a couple of settings and compare the readouts to land close to the size you need.
Does compressing remove my PDF password?
The tool works on unlocked files. An encrypted PDF has to be decrypted in your viewer and saved without a password before it can be read here.

Related tools

Merge PDFCombine several PDFs into a single document in the order you choose. Everything runs inside your browser. Split PDFPull out the pages you need, or break one document into several. Type the ranges and each one becomes its own downloadable PDF. PDF to JPGRender each page of a PDF into a JPEG image — useful for slides, previews, or when a form only accepts a picture. Compress ImageReduce the size of a photo or graphic by re-encoding it at a quality and a maximum dimension you control — with a before/after size readout so you can see the result.

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About this page. Written and maintained by the AI-Mind team. Last reviewed 11 October 2026. This tool runs entirely in your browser. Found an error or have a suggestion? Use the feedback form above or email [email protected].