Compress PDF
Make a PDF smaller without uploading it anywhere. Quick compress re-saves the file with a tighter internal structure — it mostly helps PDFs with redundant or bloated data, and keeps your text selectable. Maximum compression rasterizes every page into a compressed JPEG, which shrinks image-heavy or scanned PDFs dramatically but turns the whole document into an image (no more selectable or searchable text). Both modes run entirely in your browser, and you'll see the before/after size before you download.
- Free — no sign-up
- Private — runs in your browser
- Instant results
Select a PDF to compress. Quick compress preserves selectable text; Maximum compression rasterizes every page for much smaller files at the cost of selectable text.
How to use the Compress PDF
- 1Select a PDF. Choose the file you want to shrink.
- 2Pick a mode. Quick compress keeps text selectable; Maximum compression rasterizes pages for the smallest file.
- 3Download the result. Compare the before/after size, then save the compressed PDF.
Frequently asked questions
Will Quick compress always make my file smaller?
Not always. It re-saves the PDF with a tighter internal structure (object streams), which helps PDFs with redundant or bloated data. A PDF that's already well-optimized may barely shrink — in that case, try Maximum compression.
Does Maximum compression lose quality?
Yes, by design — it rasterizes every page as a JPEG at a quality level you choose, and text becomes part of the image rather than selectable text. It's the right tradeoff for scanned documents or image-heavy PDFs where file size matters more than text selection.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. Both compression modes run entirely in your browser using pdf-lib and pdfjs — your file never leaves your device.
Learn more
Why PDFs get large, the difference between structural bloat and heavy images, and how to pick the right compression mode for each.
Why drawing a black box over PDF text doesn't remove it, and what a correct, flatten-and-rebuild redaction process actually requires.
Why PDFs sometimes stop opening, how a lenient-parser-and-rebuild recovery approach works, and what it can and can't fix.
How to turn paper documents into a PDF using your device's camera, tips for a clean capture, and the fallback photo-upload workflow.
What the PDF/A archival standard requires, why it differs from a regular PDF, and how to give a PDF clean, honest archival-style metadata.