When to Compress a PDF

PDFs can get large—scans, image-heavy reports, presentations. Email providers often limit attachments to 10–25 MB. Compressing a PDF shrinks the file so it fits. You can also speed up uploads and save storage.

Use our compress PDF tool when a file is too big to email or upload. Choose a compression level: light keeps quality high; strong shrinks more. Balance size and readability. For image-heavy PDFs, compressing the images first with our image compressor online can help.

How PDF Compression Works

PDF compression typically reduces image resolution and applies compression to images and sometimes text. The result is a smaller file. How much smaller depends on the original content. Image-heavy PDFs compress more than text-only ones.

Our compress PDF tool runs in your browser. Your PDF is processed locally. Upload, choose level, download. No uploads to our servers. For converting PDF pages to images, use our PDF to JPG or PDF to PNG tools.

Compress PDF for Email and Web

Email: Stay under attachment limits. Web: Serve smaller PDFs for faster downloads. Storage: Save space. Submission: Meet file size requirements for forms and assignments.

After compressing, if you still need images from the PDF, use our PDF to JPG or PDF to PNG. To create a new PDF from images, try our image to PDF or JPG to PDF tools.

Tips for Better Compression

Start with a moderate compression level. Check the result—if text is still readable and images look fine, you can try a higher level. For scanned documents, compression can reduce file size significantly. For text-only PDFs, the reduction may be smaller.

If the PDF has many images, consider resizing or compressing those images first with our image compressor online, then combining them into a PDF with our image to PDF tool.

Your PDF Stays Private

Our compress PDF tool runs in your browser. Your PDF is read on your device, compressed there, and you download the result. No uploads, no storage. Same for our PDF to JPG, PDF to PNG, and image to PDF tools.