Compress PDF Online

Drag a file into the drop zone, or click Upload PDF to pick one. The tool shows the page count and original size so you know your starting point.

Start with Balanced — it suits most documents. Pick Low if you need the text to stay selectable and searchable, or High when you need the smallest file possible.

Lower the Image Quality slider to squeeze images harder, switch on Grayscale for black-and-white documents, and leave Remove Metadata on to strip hidden author/history data.

The Estimated Result Size bar updates as you change settings. This is how you hit a target — keep adjusting until the estimate drops under your limit.

Click Compress PDF, then download. You'll see the new size and the percentage saved.

With this tool, yes — your file never leaves your device. The compression runs inside your browser, so the PDF is read from local memory and is never uploaded to a server. That matters for contracts, IDs, and medical or financial records, where most online compressors send your document to a remote server you don't control.

It can, depending on the level you choose. Low is lossless — text stays sharp and selectable and the size drop is modest. Balanced and High re-encode images at a lower resolution to save more space, which can slightly soften photos or scans. For everyday documents, Balanced keeps text clearly readable while cutting the size noticeably.

The tool doesn't take an exact target number, but you can get there using the live Estimated Result Size bar. Lower the Image Quality slider, turn on Grayscale, and choose High compression while watching the estimate update. Once it drops under your target — for a form or portal upload — compress and download.

Most email providers, including Gmail and Outlook, cap attachments at around 25MB. Load your PDF, start with Balanced compression, and check the new size after compressing. If it's still too big, switch to High or turn on Grayscale. For very large files, sending a shared link instead of an attachment skips the limit entirely.

A few things resist compression. Embedded and subset fonts add weight that can't be reduced much, and pages that are already scanned images or already optimized have little left to remove. If a file barely shrinks on Balanced, try High or enable Grayscale, since those re-process the images that usually take up the most space.

Low is lossless: it trims structure and metadata but keeps text selectable, so the size drop is modest. Balanced, the default, re-encodes images and flattens complex pages for a much smaller file that still looks clean on screen. High compresses the hardest for the smallest file, which may add minor artifacts but is fine for email or quick sharing.

On the Low setting, yes — text stays selectable and searchable. On Balanced and High, pages with complex layouts are converted to optimized images to save space, so the text on those pages can no longer be selected or searched. If you need to copy text or keep the file searchable later, use Low.

Scanned PDFs are made of images, so they respond well to compression. Use Balanced or High, lower the Image Quality slider, and turn on Grayscale if the document is black-and-white text. Watch the estimated size as you adjust — you can usually shrink a scan a lot while keeping the text easy to read.

No. Because the work happens on your own device instead of a server, there's no upload cap, no daily file limit, and no account to create. The only real limit is your device's memory, so a very large, image-heavy PDF will process slower on an older phone than on a desktop.

Not directly. An encrypted PDF has to be unlocked first, because the tool can't read a file it can't open. Remove the password to get an unprotected copy, compress that, and re-apply protection afterward if you still need it. Our Unlock PDF tool handles the first step.

Yes. The tool runs in any modern mobile browser on iPhone or Android — no app needed. Open the page, tap to choose a PDF from your files, pick a compression level, and download. Larger files use more memory, so very big PDFs feel smoother on a laptop or desktop.

It strips hidden information from the file — author name, software tags, and creation history that travel with a PDF but aren't part of what you see on the page. It's on by default and trims a little size, but its main benefit is privacy when you share a document publicly.