Compress PDF
About the PDF Compressor
Reduce a PDF’s file size so it is easier to email or upload. It re-renders each page as a compressed image at your chosen quality level, which shrinks large scanned and image-heavy PDFs the most. Compression runs entirely in your browser — the file is never uploaded.
This tool works in your browser: the files and text you use are processed on your device and are not uploaded.
How to use it
- Drop a PDF onto the upload area.
- Pick a compression level (High quality, Balanced, or Smallest size).
- Click Compress — the smaller PDF downloads and the size saving is shown.
Frequently asked questions
How does the compression work?
Each page is rendered to an image and re-encoded as a JPEG at the quality you choose, then rebuilt into a new PDF. Lower quality means smaller files. Because pages become images, selectable text is flattened into the picture.
Will the text still be selectable afterwards?
No — this method rasterises each page, so text becomes part of the image and can no longer be selected or searched. If you need selectable text, keep the original alongside the compressed copy.
Why did my file not get smaller?
PDFs that are already mostly compressed images, or plain vector/text PDFs, may not shrink — and can even grow, since text compresses better than an image of that text. This tool helps most with large scans and photo-heavy documents.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. Rendering and rebuilding happen locally in your browser, so the document stays on your device.