Compress PDF
Shrink a PDF's file size by choosing a compression level.
Works by re-rendering each page as a compressed image, best for scanned or image-heavy PDFs. Text-heavy PDFs may not shrink much (or could grow) since they're already efficiently encoded.
Compression level
Frequently asked questions
Why didn't my PDF get much smaller?
This tool works by re-rendering pages as compressed images, which shrinks scanned documents and image-heavy PDFs a lot. A PDF that's mostly text is already compactly encoded, so there's less room to save, and re-rendering it as images can even make it larger.
Which compression level should I pick?
Start with “Balanced”, it's a good middle ground. Use “Smallest size” for scans you just need to be readable, and “High quality” when you need the pages to still look sharp when printed or zoomed in.
Will the text in my PDF still be selectable after compressing?
No, since compression re-renders each page as an image, the output is no longer searchable/selectable text. If you need to keep selectable text, this tool isn't the right choice.