Compress PDF in your browser
PDF too big to email or bounced by an upload portal? Shrink it right in your browser, without handing a confidential file to a stranger’s server. Use lossless mode to keep everything crisp, or a scan preset when you need a much smaller file.
- Lossless mode shrinks the file and keeps text selectable.
- Balanced and Smaller presets give big savings on image-heavy scans.
- If compressing would make the file bigger, you get your original back.
- See the exact before-and-after size. Your file never leaves your device.
How to use Compress PDF
- Choose the PDF you want to make smaller.
- Pick Lossless (keeps text and graphics) or a Scan preset (turns pages into JPEG images).
- If you picked a scan preset, confirm it, then click Compress PDF and download.
Technical notes & limits
- Scan presets turn pages into images (up to 200 pages), which removes selectable text, links, bookmarks, and form fields.
- Files that are already optimized may barely shrink in Lossless mode. The 100 MiB and 120-second limits apply.
Which mode should you use?
Start with Lossless for contracts, reports, and anything with real text. It runs on a Rust engine compiled to WebAssembly that removes waste inside the file without touching how it looks. If the file is big because it’s full of high-resolution scans or photos, switch to Balanced or Smaller, which save each page as an optimized JPEG.
Honest results, no surprises
A lot of PDFs are already well compressed. If we can’t make yours smaller without hurting quality, or the result would be larger, we hand back your original and show you the numbers. Keep in mind that scan presets flatten text, links, bookmarks, and form fields into images.
Frequently asked questions
Which compression mode should I choose first?
Lossless. It keeps your text, graphics, and links. Only move to Balanced or Smaller if you need a much smaller file and you’re fine with pages becoming images.
Why did my PDF stay the same size after lossless compression?
It was probably already well compressed, so there wasn’t much to remove. If the output would be bigger, the tool keeps your original.
Does PDF compression happen on my device?
Yes. Lossless mode runs in a local WebAssembly engine and the scan presets use your browser’s own canvas. Nothing is uploaded.