Pocketools

Compress PDF

Reduce PDF file size for email and upload limits, with a lossless option that keeps text.

PDF & Image Runs in your browser
Compression

Pages are saved as images at 144 DPI. Big savings on scans and photos; text can no longer be selected.

PDFs
    Compressed

    Nothing compressed yet

    Pick a compression level above, then add PDFs on the left. The new size of each file appears here, ready to download.

    Runs entirely in your browser. Your data isn't uploaded — this page makes no network request with anything you type or upload, which you can verify in your browser's network tab. How this works.

    What is the Compress PDF?

    Compress PDF makes a PDF smaller so it fits under an email attachment limit, sends quickly on WhatsApp, or gets past the 1 MB or 2 MB caps on government, bank, exam and job portals. Drop in one or more PDFs, pick a compression level, and the new size of each file appears straight away.

    There are two ways to shrink a PDF in the browser, and the tool is upfront about which one it is using. Basic re-saves the file more efficiently and changes nothing you can see, so text, links and form fields survive; the saving is modest. Recommended and Strong redraw every page as an image at a lower resolution, which shrinks scanned documents and photo-heavy PDFs dramatically, but the text in the new file can no longer be selected or searched. Everything runs on your device: the PDF is never uploaded.

    How to use it

    1. Choose a compression level. Recommended suits scans, photos and most upload forms.
    2. Drop PDFs onto the page, or click to choose them. Each one is compressed as soon as it is added.
    3. Check the new size next to each file. If it is still too large, switch to Strong.
    4. Download the compressed PDF, or all of them as a ZIP.

    Example

    A scanned application form compressed with the Recommended level.

    PDF added
    application-scan.pdf   6 pages   8.4 MB
    Result
    application-scan-compressed.pdf   8.4 MB → 1.1 MB (−87%)

Saved 7.3 MB (87%)

    Features

    • Three levels: lossless Basic, Recommended (144 DPI) and Strong (96 DPI)
    • Before-and-after size for every file and the total saved
    • Bulk compression of up to 20 PDFs
    • Keeps the original when compression would not make it smaller
    • Page sizes and orientation are preserved
    • Works offline once the page has loaded — nothing is uploaded
    • No watermark, no sign-up, no daily limit

    Frequently asked questions

    Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
    No. The PDF is read and rebuilt by your own browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, which is why it is safe to compress bank statements, ID scans and contracts.
    Which compression level should I choose?
    Recommended works for scanned documents, certificates and photo-heavy PDFs and usually cuts the size by more than half. Use Basic when the PDF was made from Word or a website and you need to keep selectable text. Use Strong only when you must meet a very small limit, because pages look softer when printed.
    How do I compress a PDF to under 1 MB, 500 KB or 100 KB?
    Start with Recommended and check the size shown next to the file. If it is still over the limit, switch to Strong. For long documents, the PDF Splitter can send just the pages the form asks for, which is often the quickest way under a strict limit.
    Why can I no longer select text after compressing?
    Recommended and Strong turn every page into an image, which is what makes the large savings possible in a browser. Choose Basic to keep text, links and form fields exactly as they were.
    Why did my PDF hardly get smaller?
    Basic only re-saves the file more efficiently, so a PDF that is already tidy changes little. When a result is not smaller than the original, the original is kept and marked as already compact. Try Recommended for a bigger saving.
    Can I compress a password-protected PDF?
    Not directly. Open the PDF in a viewer that knows the password, save or print it to a new PDF without the password, then compress that copy.
    Esc

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