Compress PDF

Shrink a PDF so it fits an email or uploads faster. You see the exact saving before you download.

Drop PDFs here, or click to choose

One file or a whole batch

Compression runs on our server, so your files are uploaded. Each one is deleted as soon as your download finishes, and nothing is stored.

HOW TO

How to compress a PDF

Most oversized PDFs are large because of the images inside them. Compression re-encodes those at a sensible resolution and strips out data nothing is using.

  1. 1

    Add your PDFs

    Drag files in or click to browse. Add several at a time if you have a batch to get through.

  2. 2

    Compress

    Press Compress and each file is processed in turn. The saving for every file is shown as it finishes.

  3. 3

    Download what helped

    Take the files individually or grab the whole batch as a ZIP. If a file did not shrink, just keep your original.

USE CASES

When a file is simply too big

Usually a limit somewhere is the reason you are here.

Email attachment limits

Get a document under the cap most mail providers enforce so it actually sends.

Upload forms

Meet the size limit on an application or government portal that rejects large files.

Scanned documents

Cut down a scan saved at far higher resolution than it needs for reading on screen.

Sharing by message

Send a document through a chat app that struggles with large attachments.

Website downloads

Publish a brochure or guide that will not take an age to download.

Saving storage

Reduce a large archive of documents you need to keep but rarely open.

TIPS

Getting the best trade-off

Compression trades detail for size. Knowing where the size actually comes from helps you decide.

  • Image-heavy PDFs shrink the most. Scans and photo brochures often drop dramatically, while text-only files barely move.
  • Check the result before you use it, especially if the document contains small print inside a photographed page.
  • Keep your original. The compressed file is a separate download, so nothing is overwritten.
  • If the file barely shrank, its size is probably not coming from images and there is little left to remove.
  • Merging first then compressing once is quicker than compressing several files and merging afterwards.
  • For a document you will print at full size, consider whether you need compression at all — the detail loss shows up more on paper.
FAQ

Questions, answered

What compression does to your file and where it goes.

Still stuck?

Send us the details and we will take a look.

Get in touch

Upload the file and it is compressed automatically. You see the original size, the new size and exactly how much came off before you download. No account and no watermark.