Home › PDF Tools › Compress PDF

Compress PDF to a Smaller Size

Shrink a PDF for email or an upload — pick a level, or a target like under 1MB or 2MB. Best for scanned and image-heavy PDFs. Free and fully private.

🗜️
Click to choose a PDF or drag & drop · one PDF file
ℹ️ This re-encodes each page as an image to save space, so it works best on scanned or photo-heavy PDFs. Selectable text becomes part of the image.
LightBest quality
RecommendedBalanced
StrongSmallest
—Original
→
—Compressed
—Saved
⬇ Download compressed PDF

How to compress a PDF

  1. Choose your PDF using the box above (or drag it in).
  2. Pick a compression level, or switch to Target size and set a limit like 2MB.
  3. Click Compress PDF and wait a moment while each page is re-encoded.
  4. Download the smaller file. Everything happens privately.

Fit an upload limit

Many portals and email systems cap attachments at 1MB, 2MB or 5MB. The Target size mode lowers image quality and resolution step by step until your PDF fits under the limit — perfect for scanned certificates, forms and ID documents 🇮🇳.

When it works best

Scanned pages and image-heavy PDFs shrink the most. Text-only PDFs are already small; compressing them turns text into an image, so only use it if you specifically need a smaller file.

Frequently asked questions

Will the text still be selectable?

No. To achieve strong, reliable compression on any PDF, each page is rendered to an image. If you need selectable text, keep the original.

Why didn't my file get much smaller?

If a PDF is already optimised, or is mostly plain text, there's little to remove. Try the Strong level or a specific target size.

Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?

No. Everything happens inside your browser, so your file is never uploaded.