PDF Compress
Compress PDF files in your browser. Lossless mode keeps text and links intact; Strong mode shrinks scanned and photo-heavy PDFs by turning pages into JPEG images.
Drop PDF here or browse
or paste from clipboard (Ctrl+V)
How to Compress PDF Files
- 1
Upload PDF
Drop or select a PDF file
- 2
Choose a mode
Pick Lossless, or Strong compression for scans and photos
- 3
Compress
Click Compress PDF
- 4
Compare and download
Check the original and new size, then download the smaller file
Compressing PDFs: what to know
Two ways to compress
Lossless mode rewrites the PDF with a more compact internal structure. It drops objects that nothing refers to any more and packs the rest into compressed object streams. Strong compression works differently: it draws each page as a picture at the resolution you choose, saves that picture as a JPEG, and builds a new PDF from those pictures. Page sizes stay the same.
When to use Lossless
Use it for PDFs made from Word, Google Docs or design software, and for files that were edited, merged or exported many times. Nothing you can see changes, so text stays sharp, searchable and selectable, and links, bookmarks and forms keep working. The saving is usually small. On a scan or a photo album it may be close to zero, because almost all of the size sits in the images, which this mode leaves alone.
When to use Strong compression
Use it for scanned contracts, phone photos of receipts, and slide decks full of pictures, where a 20 MB file has to fit under an email or upload limit. Smallest file (72 DPI) is meant for reading on screen. Balanced (120 DPI) keeps normal text readable and suits most email and upload forms. High quality (150 DPI) is the one to pick if the file will be printed. Custom lets you set the resolution and JPEG quality yourself.
What Strong compression removes
Because every page becomes an image, you can no longer select, copy or search the text, and screen readers cannot read it. Links, bookmarks, form fields, comments and attachments are removed. Keep the original if you need any of these. On a PDF that is mostly digital text, the images can end up larger than the original. When the result is not smaller, the tool says so and does not offer it for download.
Speed and large files
Pages are processed one at a time, so only one page is drawn in memory at once, and you can cancel between pages. Expect a few seconds per page at High quality on a phone. Very large pages, such as posters, are rendered at a lower resolution so they fit within what the browser can draw. Password-protected PDFs must be unlocked first.
Privacy
Both modes run entirely in your browser. Your PDF is loaded into memory on your device, processed there, and offered back as a download. No file is uploaded to a server, which matters for documents such as tax forms, contracts, or medical reports.