Shrink a PDF
Make a photo-heavy file smaller to send.
Need more than one change? Chain tools together →Something not right? Tell us
Your file
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PDF up to 100 MB · stays on your device
Copied files somewhere? Paste with Ctrl+V — no need to save it first.
How much to shrink it
Choose a file first.
What this tool is for
Compressing makes a PDF smaller so it fits a size limit, usually an email attachment or an upload form that refuses anything over a few megabytes. The savings come mostly from the images inside the document, which is why a scanned file shrinks a great deal and a plain text one barely moves.
How to compress a PDF
- Add the PDF you want to make smaller.
- Choose how hard to compress. More compression means a smaller file and softer images.
- Compare the size you get against the original, then save it.
Questions
Why did my file barely get smaller?
Because most of it is text, and text takes almost no room. Compression works on the pictures in a document, so a PDF made of scans shrinks a lot and one made of typed pages has little to give up.
Will the text still be sharp?
Yes. Text is left alone, so it stays crisp at any zoom. Only images are reduced.
Is the text still selectable and searchable afterwards?
Yes, as long as it was to begin with. A PDF that was only ever a scan has no text in it to keep, and compressing does not change that either way.
Is anything sent to a server?
No. The file is opened, rebuilt and handed back inside this browser tab, so it never leaves your device.
Related tools
- Merge PDFs — Join several files into one, in the order you choose.
- Split a PDF — Keep only the pages you want. The rest are left out.
- Rotate a PDF — Turn pages that came out sideways.
- Remove pages — Take unwanted pages out of a PDF.