Compress PDF
Make PDFs smaller on your device, or fit them under a portal's limit such as 100 KB. Keep text re-saves only the photos and scans inside the PDF, so text stays selectable; Maximum turns every page into a JPG for the smallest scans.
- Runs on your device
- No sign-up
- Free, no watermark
Guide: How to Compress PDF Files Online Without Losing Quality
How to use the PDF Compressor
- 01Choose a mode. Keep text suits most PDFs. Maximum suits scans when the smallest size matters more than selectable text.
- 02Set the image quality. Lower is smaller, higher keeps photos sharper.
- 03For an upload limit, pick a Target size such as 100 KB, or type your own in KB. The quality is then chosen for you, and each file shows whether it fits.
- 04Drop your PDF files into the box, or click it to choose them. Compression starts straight away.
- 05Check the new size of each file. Already optimised means no smaller copy was possible, so the original is kept.
- 06Download files one at a time, or all of them as a ZIP.
Good to know
Runs on your device
Your PDFs are read and re-saved by your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Keep text by default
Only the JPEG photos and scans inside the PDF are re-saved. Text, links and form fields are left as they are.
Maximum for scans
Each page becomes a JPG at about 108 pixels per inch. Text can't be selected afterwards.
Target size for portals
Pick 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB, 1 MB, 2 MB or your own limit. Text is kept if the file fits that way; otherwise pages become images.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Keep text and Maximum?
Keep text leaves the PDF as it is and re-saves only the JPEG photos and scans inside it, scaling large ones down. Text, fonts, links and form fields are not touched. Maximum renders every page as a JPG image (about 108 pixels per inch) and builds a new PDF from those images. That shrinks scans further, but the text becomes part of a picture: you can't select, search or copy it, and links and form fields stop working.
Can I compress a PDF to 100 KB?
Often, yes. Choose 100 KB under Target size. The photos and scans inside the PDF are re-saved at lower quality first, so text stays selectable. If that isn't enough, every page becomes a JPG image, down to 72 dpi, and text can no longer be selected, searched or copied; the file then shows "pages became images". A long or detailed document may still not fit. You then see the smallest size reached, which you can download, or you can split the PDF or remove pages. A KB here is 1,000 bytes, so the file also passes portals that count 1,024.
Why didn't my PDF get smaller?
Keep text only shrinks photos and scans inside the PDF. A PDF that is mostly text, or whose images are already small or not JPEG, may not get smaller. Then the original is kept and marked Already optimised. Maximum can help with scans, but it often makes text-only PDFs larger.
Will the quality drop?
Photos are re-saved as JPG at the quality you choose, and large ones are scaled down (to 2000 pixels on the longest side at 80%), so they can look softer when you zoom in. With Maximum, small text can look soft too. Raise the quality for sharper results.
Are my files uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser and your PDFs never leave your device.
Can I compress password-protected PDFs?
Not if the PDF needs a password to open. Remove it first with the Unlock PDF tool. PDFs that open without a password but have copy or edit restrictions can be compressed, and the new file won't keep those restrictions.