Free PDF tool

Compress a PDF

Make a PDF smaller for email and upload limits. Text stays sharp and selectable.

Choose a PDF

Your files stay in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

Short answer

Open your PDF below, pick Light, Medium or Strong and press Compress to download a smaller copy. The savings come from the photos and scans inside the file, so a scanned or photo-heavy PDF often shrinks by half or more, while a PDF that is mostly typed text may only lose a few per cent. Text is never turned into pictures, so it stays sharp and searchable, and the file is processed in your browser.

Updated 25 October 2026

How to compress a PDF

1
Open the PDF
Press Choose a PDF or drop it on the box. The current file size is shown at the top.
2
Pick a level
Light rewrites the file compactly. Medium also shrinks photos and scans to a sharp screen size. Strong makes them smaller still.
3
Compress and check
Press Compress PDF. You see the new size and how much was saved, then download it. If the file can't get smaller, you get your original back.

Why some PDFs shrink a lot and others barely move

A PDF's size is mostly its pictures. A phone scan of a ten-page contract is ten full-resolution photos, often 1 to 3 MB each, and resizing them to what a screen or printer actually needs cuts the file dramatically. A PDF exported from Word with no images is already small: the text is stored as letters, not pixels, and there is little left to take out.

That's why this tool tells you the result honestly. If it can't make your file smaller, it says so and hands back the original rather than a bigger copy.

What each level does

Light: rewrites the file structure compactly and drops unused leftovers. Nothing visible changes
Medium: photos and scans larger than about 1,800 pixels are resized and saved as good quality JPEG. Good for email
Strong: pictures go down to about 1,200 pixels at lower quality. Smallest files; photos look softer up close
Every level leaves text, fonts, vector drawings and links untouched

Common size limits

Many email services refuse attachments over 20 or 25 MB, and government and job application portals often cap uploads at 2, 5 or 10 MB. Medium usually brings a scanned document under those limits; if not, Strong, or splitting the document into parts with Split PDF, will.

Compressing a signed PDF

Don't compress a PDF that has been digitally signed or sealed. Any change to the file, even a lossless one, breaks the seal that proves it hasn't been altered. Compress before sending for signature, never after.

Questions people ask

Will compressing make my text blurry?

No. Only photos and scanned images are resized. Typed text stays as text, so it stays sharp at any zoom and you can still search and copy it.

Why did my PDF hardly get smaller?

It probably has few or no pictures. Text-only PDFs are already compact, and there is little to remove without damaging them.

Is a scanned document's text affected?

In a scan, the text is part of the picture, so Strong can make it softer. Use Medium for scans you need to read closely.

Is my file uploaded?

No. Compression happens in your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to us.

Need it signed? Send it for signature

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