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Compress PDF Online

Conversion Tools Processed on our server

Reduce PDF file size without losing quality. Compress PDFs for email, web, or storage.

Compress PDF tool

Compress PDF

Compressed PDF will appear here

About Compress PDF

Upload a PDF of up to 20 MB, choose a compression level, and download a smaller file. The tool rebuilds the document with compressed content streams and reports the original size, the new size and the percentage saved, so you can see immediately whether the result clears the limit you are working to.

What this tool does

  • Accepts PDF files up to 20 MB
  • Three compression levels to choose from
  • Original size, compressed size and percentage saved all reported
  • Downloads the compressed file directly
  • No account, no watermark added to the document

Processed on our server. Your file is uploaded to our server over HTTPS so it can be processed, then the result is returned to you. Do not upload confidential material you are not permitted to share with a third party.

How to use Compress PDF

  1. Choose your PDF

    Select a file up to 20 MB. Larger files are rejected before anything is uploaded, with the actual size shown so you know by how much.

  2. Pick a compression level

    Medium is selected by default and is the right starting point. Low deliberately skips stream compression and is mainly useful as a comparison.

  3. Compress

    The file is uploaded over HTTPS, rebuilt, and returned. Larger documents take longer — the page warns you above 10 MB.

  4. Check what you saved

    Compare the original and compressed figures. How much comes off depends entirely on what is inside the PDF; see the section below on why some files barely shrink.

  5. Download and verify

    Open the downloaded file before you send it, and check that everything you need is still there.

Compress PDF examples

Real input and the output this tool produces for it.

Example inputs and the results Compress PDF returns
Example Input Result
Text-heavy report A 6 MB uncompressed text PDF Often a substantial reduction — uncompressed text streams compress well
Already-optimised export A 2 MB PDF exported from modern software Little or no change; its streams are already compressed
Scanned document A 15 MB scan Minimal change — the size is in the images, which are not downsampled
Over the limit A 25 MB file Rejected before upload with the size shown

How this PDF compression works, and what it will not do

What actually happens to your file

The tool opens the PDF, imports every page into a new document, and writes that document out with its content streams compressed. Where the original stored page content uncompressed — which is common in PDFs produced by older software, by export scripts, or by tools that prioritise speed — this removes a lot of bytes.

It is worth being clear about what it does not do: images inside the PDF are not downsampled or re-encoded. If your file is large because it contains high-resolution photographs or page scans, most of its weight is in those images and this tool will barely move it. Reducing the images at the source — before the PDF is created — is the effective route.

What the three levels do

Setting expectations honestly here matters more than the marketing version.

Behaviour of each compression level
Level What it does When to use it
Low Rebuilds the document with stream compression switched off Comparison, or when a downstream tool is fussy about compressed streams
Medium (default) Rebuilds with stream compression enabled The normal choice
High Currently identical in effect to Medium No additional saving over Medium today

What gets lost when a PDF is rebuilt

Because every page is imported into a fresh document, elements that live outside the page content can be dropped. Check the result before sending it if any of these matter to you.

  • Clickable links and other annotations
  • Form fields — a fillable form may come back flat
  • Bookmarks and the document outline
  • Attachments and embedded files
  • Digital signatures, which are invalidated by any modification in any tool
  • Password-protected PDFs cannot be processed at all — remove the protection first

Common upload limits

Most people arrive here because something refused their file. These are the ceilings that come up most often — confirm against the specific service, since several vary by plan.

Attachment and upload limits people commonly hit
Where Typical limit
Gmail attachment 25 MB (larger files are offered via Drive)
Outlook.com attachment 20 MB
This tool 20 MB
Many government and university portals 2–10 MB
Job application forms Often 2–5 MB for a CV

When compression is not the answer

If the PDF is mostly scanned pages, the honest fix is upstream: rescan at 200–300 dpi rather than 600, scan in greyscale rather than colour where the content allows, and export to PDF with image compression enabled.

If the document is a set of photographs, compress the images or resize them first, then rebuild the PDF with JPG to PDF. And if only part of the document is needed, splitting out the relevant pages reduces the size far more reliably than compressing all of them.

When people use this tool

Getting under an email attachment limit

The most common reason people compress a PDF at all.

Uploading to a portal with a size cap

Application forms and government services frequently cap at 2–5 MB.

Sharing a report with a client

A smaller file downloads faster on a phone or a slow connection.

Reducing storage for archives

Worth doing across a set of documents that were exported without compression.

Speeding up a PDF on your website

A downloadable PDF is part of your page weight for anyone who clicks it.

Preparing files for a slow connection

Smaller documents are far less likely to time out mid-upload.

More about Compress PDF

Compress PDF files to reduce their size while maintaining quality. Choose from low, medium, or high compression levels. Perfect for reducing file sizes for email attachments, web uploads, or storage optimization. See compression statistics and download the optimized PDF.

Compress PDF — frequently asked questions

Related tools

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