Compress a PDF — Free, Private, Adjustable
Shrink a large PDF down to a smaller file size, with a compression level you control. Runs entirely in your browser.
Compress a PDF Now — Free →How it works
- Upload the PDF you want to shrink.
- Choose a compression level — Light (highest quality), Balanced, or Max Compression (smallest file).
- Download the compressed result.
What actually happens when a PDF is compressed?
This tool recompresses each page as an image at your chosen quality level — a real, working compression pass that runs fully in your browser. Worth knowing: this flattens each page, so pages become non-selectable images afterward. That makes it ideal for shrinking scanned documents or image-heavy PDFs, but not the right tool for a text-critical document you still need to select or search text in.
Common uses
Shrinking a scanned document before emailing it, reducing an image-heavy PDF for faster uploads elsewhere, or getting a large file under a size limit for a form submission.
Frequently asked questions
Will compressing reduce quality?
Some quality reduction is inherent to compression — the Light setting keeps this minimal; Max Compression prioritizes small file size over quality.
Can I still select text after compressing?
No — compression flattens each page into an image, so text is no longer selectable afterward. Use this on scanned or image-heavy PDFs, not text-critical documents.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No — compression runs entirely in your browser.
Is there a file size limit?
No hard limit imposed by the tool; very large files are limited only by your device's memory.