Compress PDF
Choose a file and a compression level. You see how much you gained before downloading.
How to use
The three modes differ in how hard the contents are squeezed. Light preserves detail and suits a modest reduction. Medium is the sensible balance for most cases. Strong extracts the maximum and is right for scans you simply need to send.
The method is stated openly in the interface: pages are turned into images. For scans and presentations that is ideal — they are images already and the size drops several-fold. For a document with real text there is a cost: the text stops being selectable and searchable. The tool warns you before you press the button, not after.
FAQ
Why can't I select the text after compressing?
Because pages are rebuilt as images, which is where the size saving comes from. True compression that keeps the text layer requires repacking the PDF's internal objects and does not work on many files. We chose the method that always works and are upfront about its price.
The file got bigger — what now?
That means the original is already well packed, which happens with text-only documents. Keep the original; there is nothing to gain. The tool says so directly.
How much smaller will the file get?
It depends on the contents. Scans and photographs inside a document shrink several times over. A pure text PDF barely shrinks and may even grow.
Is the document uploaded to a server?
No. Compression runs in your browser — which matters, because the documents people compress are usually exactly the ones they would rather not hand to anybody.