Compress PDF Online — Free, Reduce File Size, No Upload
Shrink your PDF with one-click presets or dial in exact quality and resolution settings. Runs entirely in your browser — no upload, no wait.
About This Tool
Three presets, total control
Pick Extreme to slash file size for email and archiving, Recommended for the best quality-to-size balance, or Light when you want near-original quality with a modest size saving.
Not happy with a preset? Slide the Image Quality and Resolution Scale controls to any value. Everything runs in your browser — your file never leaves your device. Want to reduce size further? Try removing unnecessary pages or splitting the PDF into separate files first. After compressing, you can merge multiple PDFs into one, add a text watermark, or eSign the document before sending.
Compression Presets
Extreme, Recommended, and Light — pick the right trade-off in one click.
Manual Control
Override any preset by dragging the quality and resolution sliders.
100% Private
Files never leave your browser or touch our servers.
No File Limits
Compress PDFs of any size, completely free.
Quick Start
How to Compress a PDF
Upload PDF
Drop your PDF or click 'Select PDF to Compress'. Loaded directly in your browser — no server upload.
Choose Preset
Pick Extreme, Recommended, or Light from the settings panel on the right.
Fine-Tune
Optionally drag the Image Quality and Resolution Scale sliders to dial in exact settings.
Compress & Download
Click 'Compress PDF' — your smaller PDF is ready to save in seconds.
Use Cases
When to Use PDF Compressor
From email attachments to web uploads, PDF compression solves file-size problems across every workflow.
Email Attachments
Shrink large reports or proposals so they fit within email size limits without losing readable quality.
Website Uploads
Reduce PDF file size before uploading to a CMS or document portal to improve page load times.
Cloud Storage
Free up Google Drive or Dropbox space by compressing large PDF archives and scanned documents.
Scanned Documents
Compress oversized scanned PDFs that are bloated with high-resolution image data from scanners.
Mobile Sharing
Make PDFs lightweight enough to share quickly over messaging apps or mobile platforms.
Bulk Archive Prep
Reduce the size of document batches before archiving to save long-term storage costs.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the preset. Extreme softens images noticeably. Recommended is a good balance for most documents. Light is nearly indistinguishable from the original.
Extreme: 30% JPEG quality, 0.75x scale — maximum size reduction. Recommended: 60% quality, 1.5x scale — best all-round balance. Light: 85% quality, 2x scale — minimal quality loss.
Yes. Move either slider and the preset switches to 'Custom'. You have full control over Image Quality (10–100%) and Resolution Scale (0.5x–2x).
Yes. Everything runs in your browser using PDF.js and pdf-lib. Your files are never uploaded to our servers.
No file size limit. You can compress PDFs of any size — limited only by your device's available memory.
Image-heavy and scanned PDFs compress dramatically. Text-only PDFs with vector content may not shrink much, as they're already very compact.