Compress PDF
Shrink the file size while keeping quality.
or drop it here
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Up to 100 MB per file
- Completely free
- No sign-up
- Files are deleted right after processing
What Compress PDF does
Compress PDF makes a PDF smaller so it fits through email limits, upload forms and messaging apps. The biggest savings come from scanned documents and files full of photos, because pictures are usually what makes a PDF heavy.
Rather than turning every page into a flat image, the compressor works on what is inside the file. Photos and scans are re-encoded and, if they are larger than needed, scaled down; screenshots, charts and diagrams are detected and kept lossless at the lower two levels so their lines stay crisp. Embedded fonts are trimmed to the characters actually used, unused objects are removed and internal streams are packed more tightly. Text stays real text, so you can still search and copy it. If a file cannot be made smaller, you get the original back instead of a larger copy.
How to use Compress PDF
- Upload one PDF, or two at once if you need to shrink a pair of files.
- If a file is password protected, enter its password when asked.
- Choose a compression level: Less compression, Recommended compression or Extreme compression.
- Click Compress PDF and wait; large, image-heavy files can take a little while.
- Check the before and after sizes, then download the file or, for two files, use Download all (ZIP).
Features and options
- Three compression levels
- Less compression is almost lossless and limits photos to about 2400 pixels on the longest side. Recommended scales them to about 1600 pixels at balanced quality. Extreme goes down to about 800 pixels with strong JPEG compression for the smallest possible file.
- Graphics stay sharp
- Images with few colors, such as screenshots, charts and scanned line drawings, are recognized and stored losslessly at the Less and Recommended levels. That avoids the blurry halos JPEG compression leaves around text and thin lines.
- Font and structure cleanup
- Embedded fonts are cut down to the glyphs the document really uses, and objects nothing refers to are dropped. At the Extreme level, accessibility tags and other invisible extras are removed as well.
- Never larger than before
- Every result is compared with the upload. When a file is already well optimized, you are told so and can try a stronger level with the Compress harder button.
- Locked and signed files
- Password-protected files are opened with the password you enter, and the smaller copy comes without the lock. If a file carries a digital signature, you are warned that the compressed copy will show the signature as invalid.
When it helps
- A 40 MB scanned lease needs to go out by email with a 20 MB attachment cap; the Recommended level can often bring a scan like this under the limit.
- A student’s photo-heavy project report is too large for the course portal, and Extreme compression gets it accepted.
- An office worker compresses a slide deck exported to PDF before sharing it in a chat app, keeping the diagrams crisp with the Recommended level.
Tips and limits
- Each file can be up to 100 MB, and up to two files can be compressed at once.
- CMYK and some special color images are left untouched to avoid color shifts, so print-ready files may shrink less than office documents.
- Compressing breaks a digital signature’s validity. If the signed version matters, send the original or compress before signing.
Frequently asked questions
- Which level should I pick?
- Start with Recommended. If the file is still too big, try Extreme; if pictures must stay print quality, choose Less compression.
- Will the text still be searchable after compression?
- Yes. Pages are not converted into images, so text remains selectable, searchable and copyable at every level.
- Why did my file barely get smaller?
- The file was probably already efficient, for example a text-only document exported from a word processor, or its images use color formats the compressor leaves alone. Try the Extreme level, or split very long files with Split PDF.
- Does Extreme compression remove anything from my document?
- It removes accessibility tags and other information that is not visible on the page, and photos lose visible detail. All text, links and page content stay in place.
- What happens to my file once it is compressed?
- It is processed on vupdf’s own servers only to produce the smaller copy and is deleted right after the result is delivered. It is never used for AI training.