Compress PDF Online Without Losing Quality
Reduce your PDF file size by optimizing images and metadata. Choose a compression level and download a smaller file in seconds.
Preview
Preview will be available after you upload the PDF
How to Use
- Drag your PDF onto the upload zone or click to browse for it.
- Pick a compression level: low (best quality), medium (balanced), or high (smallest size).
- Click Compress and wait a few seconds while the file is optimized.
- Download the compressed PDF and compare its size to the original.
Common Use Cases
- Reducing a large PDF before emailing it as an attachment
- Shrinking a presentation PDF to meet upload size limits on portals
- Optimizing scanned documents that are unnecessarily large
- Compressing a portfolio PDF for faster download on your website
- Preparing a PDF for submission to government or academic portals
- Making a PDF easier to store on a device with limited space
- Reducing a multi-page report for quick sharing on messaging apps
- Optimizing image-heavy PDFs for better web performance
Helpful Information
What affects PDF file size
PDF files grow large primarily because of embedded images. A single uncompressed page-sized image at 300 DPI can add 10–20 MB. Embedded fonts, metadata, edit history, and thumbnail previews also contribute, though less significantly. Text and vector elements are inherently small and rarely cause size issues.
How compression works
The tool rebuilds the PDF document with optimized object streams. At low compression, image DPI is reduced from 300+ to around 150–200. Medium compression brings images to 100–150 DPI. High compression pushes images to 72–100 DPI. Text remains unaffected because it is stored as vector outlines, not rasterized pixels.
Quality trade-offs
Low compression typically produces a 20–40% reduction with no visible quality change on screen. Medium compression achieves 50–70% reduction and is the sweet spot for documents shared via email or viewed on screens. High compression can reduce size by 70–90% but may show visible artifacts in detailed images.
When to use each level
For documents that will be printed later, stick with low compression. For proposals, reports, and presentations viewed primarily on screen, medium compression offers the best balance. High compression is ideal for archiving documents you rarely open and just need to keep on file.