Compress PDF

Compress PDF: shrink oversized documents so they can actually be sent

Scanned contracts, photographed forms, and image-heavy reports routinely balloon to tens of megabytes — too big for email attachments, too slow to upload to a portal, and painful to open on a phone. Compress PDF tackles that size directly: it re-saves each page as an image at a quality level you choose, typically between 0.5 and 0.8, producing a much smaller file that still reads clearly.

The trade-off is worth understanding before you start. Because pages become images, text in the compressed file is no longer selectable or searchable — you cannot copy a paragraph out of it or find a word with Ctrl+F. That makes this tool ideal for documents meant to be read or printed, and the wrong choice for documents that must remain editable or text-searchable.

How to compress a PDF

1. Open Compress PDF and add your file.
2. Pick a quality setting: start around 0.7 for general documents, or lower (toward 0.5) if the file must fit a strict attachment limit.
3. Run the compression and compare the result — check that small print and signatures are still readable before you discard the original.
4. Download the smaller file and keep the original somewhere safe, since compression cannot be undone.

When to use it — and when not to

Use it for scanned or image-heavy PDFs that need to fit an email limit, a government portal, or a messaging app. Don't use it on born-digital, text-based PDFs — re-saving their pages as images usually saves little and destroys selectable text for no benefit. Also avoid it for documents you still need to edit, search, or copy text from; compress only the copy you send, never your only master.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my text become unselectable?

Because compression re-renders each page as an image. That is how the size drops so dramatically, but it means the text layer is gone. Keep your original if you need selectable text later.

What quality should I choose?

Try 0.7 first. If the file is still too large, step down toward 0.5; if fine print looks soft, step up toward 0.8. The right value depends on the document — dense forms need more quality than a simple one-page scan.

Will compression work on a text-only PDF?

It will run, but expect little benefit: text-based PDFs are already small, and you would lose selectable text for almost no saving. This tool earns its keep on scanned and image PDFs.

Is my document private during compression?

Yes — the whole process runs locally in your browser, so a sensitive scan never travels to any server. Your original stays on your device and only the compressed copy leaves it, when you choose to send it.

See the Compress PDF guide for more detail. Related tools: Merge PDF, Compress Images.