What is Compress PDF?
A PDF compressor reduces a PDF's file size by optimizing its internal structure and re-encoding embedded images at a lower resolution or quality.
How to use Compress PDF
- 1
Choose your PDF.
- 2
Pick a level: Lossless, Balanced (recommended), Strong, or Maximum (pages as images).
- 3
Click Compress PDF and download the smaller file.
Features
- Lossless structural optimization (qpdf)
- Image recompression that keeps text selectable
- Optional grayscale conversion and metadata removal
- Never returns a file larger than the original
Supported formats
Maximum file size: 200 MB per file.
Practical uses
- Fit a PDF under an email or upload size limit.
- Shrink scanned documents before archiving.
- Speed up downloads of PDFs on your website.
Limitations
- PDFs that are mostly text are often already compact; savings may be small.
- The Maximum level turns pages into images, so text is no longer selectable or searchable.
- CMYK, JBIG2 and other special image types are left unchanged to avoid color or quality damage.
Frequently asked questions
How much smaller will my PDF get?
It depends on the content. Image-heavy scans often shrink by 50–90%; text-only PDFs may shrink very little. The result shows the exact saving.
Will the text stay sharp?
Yes, for Lossless, Balanced and Strong. Only Maximum converts pages to images.
What is lossless compression?
It rewrites the file more efficiently (object streams, better Flate compression, removing unused objects) without changing any content.