Compress PDF and Reduce File Size

Make your PDF smaller so it fits an email attachment or an upload form — with the text still sharp and readable.

Compress a PDF Online — Smaller File, Same Readable Pages

PDF files grow quickly. A scanned contract photographed at full camera resolution, a catalogue full of product images or a presentation exported at print quality can easily reach dozens of megabytes — and then the email bounces, the upload form refuses the file or the portal caps attachments at 10 MB. Compressing the PDF fixes the problem at the source: the same document, the same pages, a much smaller file.

Upload your document, choose how hard you want to squeeze it and download the result. Lighter compression keeps images close to the original and is right for anything you intend to print. Stronger compression re-encodes the pictures more aggressively and can cut a scan down to a small fraction of its original weight — ideal when the file only needs to be read on screen or attached to a form. Text and vector graphics stay sharp at every level, because it is the embedded images that take up nearly all the space.

The tool is free and has no daily quota, so you can compress as many PDFs as you need and no watermark is ever added. Files are transferred over an encrypted HTTPS connection and deleted from the server automatically after processing. If a document is still too large after compression, try splitting it into parts with the Split PDF tool, or convert a colour scan to black and white with Grayscale PDF — greyscale pages are considerably lighter than colour ones.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I reduce the size of a PDF?

Upload the file to this page, pick a compression level and press the compress button. When processing finishes, download the smaller document — the whole thing usually takes a few seconds.

Will compression ruin the quality?

No. Text and vector elements are not degraded at all; only embedded images are re-encoded. At the lighter levels the difference is invisible on screen, and stronger levels are intended for documents that will be read rather than printed.

How much smaller will my file get?

It depends on what is inside. Scans and image-heavy documents often shrink by 50–90%, while a text-only PDF that is already optimised may barely change, because there is little left to compress.

Is there a file size limit?

You can upload a PDF of up to 100 MB, and there is no limit on the number of files you compress per day.

What if the file is still too big?

Split the document into smaller parts with the Split PDF tool, or convert it to greyscale first — a black and white version of a colour scan is much lighter. Then compress the result again.

Are my documents safe?

Yes. Uploads use an encrypted HTTPS connection and the file is deleted from the server automatically once processing is finished. We do not read your documents or pass them to anyone.