Compress PDF
Reduce PDF file size while keeping it readable. Choose your compression level.
Drop your PDF here or click to browse
PDF files up to 20 MB
How to Compress a PDF
Upload PDF
Click or drag to upload your PDF file.
Choose Level
Pick Low, Medium, or High compression.
Download
Click Compress and save the smaller PDF.
About PDF Compression
PDF files can grow very large when they contain high-resolution images, embedded fonts, or metadata. Our PDF compressor reduces file size by re-encoding embedded images at lower quality and removing redundant data streams — all without changing the text or layout of your document.
Use Low compression when you need the best possible print quality. Choose Medium for a good balance between file size and visual quality — ideal for email attachments. Select High when file size is the priority, such as uploading to web portals with size limits.
Your PDF never leaves your browser in the analysis step. The actual compression happens on our server via a secure connection, and the file is discarded immediately after processing. No data is stored or shared.
You may also find our Resize PDF in KB, Merge PDF, and Compress Image helpful.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will compression affect my PDF text?
No. Text and vector graphics are not affected. Only embedded images are re-compressed.
How much will it compress?
Results vary. Image-heavy PDFs can shrink by 50–80%. Text-only PDFs may see minimal reduction.
Is my file safe?
Yes. Files are processed securely and deleted immediately after download.
What is the file size limit?
You can compress PDFs up to 20 MB with this free tool.
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Guide
How to make a PDF smaller with the three compression levels
A PDF gets heavy for two main reasons: embedded photographs and scanned pages stored as images. This tool targets the second cause. It rewrites the file more compactly, clears the document title, author and keywords, and re-encodes the JPEG pictures inside it at a lower quality, which is where most of the saving comes from.
You pick one of three levels, Low, Medium or High, press a button and receive a new file with -compressed added to its name. Unlike the Resize PDF in KB tool, you do not choose a target size here. You choose how hard to squeeze and then look at the result.
Step by step
- Click the upload box or drop a PDF onto it. Only PDF files are accepted, up to 20 MB, and the box shows the file name and its size in KB.
- Choose a Compression Level. Medium is labelled Balanced and recommended. The other two are described as Best quality, smaller savings, and Maximum compression.
- Press Compress & Download PDF. A spinner shows Compressing while the file is processed.
- The new file downloads automatically, named like yourfile-compressed.pdf, and a green message reports the before and after sizes and the percentage saved.
- Open the result and zoom in on any photographs or stamps. If they look too soft, upload the original again and try a different level.
When this is useful
- Getting a scanned application form under an email attachment limit.
- Shrinking a photo-heavy brochure or property catalogue before sharing it on WhatsApp.
- Reducing a multi-page scan of certificates so a college portal accepts the upload.
- Trimming archive copies of old scanned records to save storage.
Worked example: One scan, three levels
We built a test PDF of four A4 pages, each a full-page JPEG scan, 6,434 KB in total, and ran it through the same steps the tool uses. Medium produced 1,574 KB, a saving of 76 percent. The other two levels produced 3,244 KB (50 percent saved) and 721 KB (89 percent saved). The smallest file is not automatically the best one: at the heaviest setting, fine print on a real scan would start to look blotchy, so you would normally pick the lightest result that fits the limit you are working to. Your own files will behave differently, which is why the tool reports the actual sizes.
Tips for better results
- Compare, do not guess. Run the same file at different levels and read the saved percentage in the confirmation message; the outcome depends on how the file was built.
- Scans are the best candidates. A PDF exported from Word that contains only text and a logo has little to squeeze.
- Keep your original. The tool saves a new file and never touches the one on your device, so you can always go back.
- If you need an exact target such as 200 KB, use Resize PDF in KB instead, which keeps stepping down until the size fits or it runs out of options.
Common mistakes
- Expecting every PDF to shrink. Only embedded JPEG images are recompressed. Text, vector drawings and images stored in other formats are left alone, so a text-only file may barely change.
- Compressing a file that is already compressed. A PDF produced by a previous compression pass has little left to lose, and each further pass costs a little sharpness.
- Uploading something over 20 MB. The tool is limited to 20 MB, and a larger file will fail with a general error. Split the document first with Split PDF.
- Compressing a document where fine print matters, such as a small-print agreement or a stamp that must be legible. Zoom into the result before you rely on it.
Your files and privacy
Unlike our browser-only tools, compression happens on our server. Your PDF is uploaded with the request, held in memory while it is processed, and sent back to you; this tool does not write it to disk. Do not use it for documents you are not comfortable sending to a server.
Frequently asked questions
Does compression change my text?
No. Text and vector graphics are carried through unchanged. Only JPEG images inside the PDF are re-encoded, so photographs and scanned pages are the parts that lose sharpness.
Why did my file barely get smaller?
Probably because it has few or no JPEG images. A mostly-text file, or one whose pictures use another format, gives this method little to work on.
What is the biggest file I can upload?
Twenty megabytes, as the upload box says. If your file is bigger, split it, compress each part, and merge them again if you need one file.
What happens to the document properties?
The title, author, subject and keywords are cleared and the creator and producer fields are set to useToolify. Keep the original if you rely on those fields.
Can I compress a password-protected PDF?
The tool reads the file without a password prompt, so results on encrypted PDFs are unpredictable and may fail. Remove the protection first with Unlock PDF if you are authorised to, then compress.
Guide reviewed 2026-10-11 by the useToolify team.
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