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FreeToolConvert

PDF Compressor

Reduce PDF file size in your browser. Balanced and Strong compress the photos and scans inside the PDF while text stays sharp and selectable; Extreme gives the smallest file. Preview every page and compare before and after.

In-browser · no upload PDF → PDF

Runs entirely in your browser. Your files and text are not uploaded to our servers.

To compress a PDF, choose the file, select a compression level and select Compress PDF. You’ll see the new size and how much smaller it is before downloading.

Which level should I choose? Start with Balanced — it compresses the photos and scans inside the PDF while text stays sharp and searchable. Strong shrinks images further. If you must meet a very small upload limit (for example 100 KB), use Extreme, which turns pages into images. Lossless changes nothing visible and only tidies the file.

How to use the PDF Compressor

  1. 1

    Choose your PDF

    Files up to 100 MB.

  2. 2

    Select a level

    Balanced, Strong, Lossless or Extreme. A preview shows every page.

  3. 3

    Compress

    Compare the original and the result side by side, page by page.

  4. 4

    Download

    If compression wouldn’t help, the original is kept and we tell you.

How it works

Lossless rewrites the PDF’s internal structure more efficiently (object streams) and removes redundant data. Quality doesn’t change, and savings are usually modest.

Balanced and Strong find the photos and scanned pages inside the PDF and re-encode them as JPEG at a lower resolution (up to 2000 or 1400 pixels on the long side). Text, fonts, vector drawings and links are not touched, so text stays sharp, selectable and searchable. Text-only PDFs have little to compress, so they shrink only a little.

Extreme renders each whole page as a small JPEG image. It gives the smallest file, but the text becomes part of the image — it can no longer be selected, searched or copied.

Features

  • Honest before/after sizes

    See exactly how much you saved.

  • Never bigger

    If the result isn’t smaller, you get the original back.

  • Sharp text

    Balanced and Strong compress images only; text stays selectable.

  • Private

    Compression runs on your device.

When to use it

  • Meeting upload limits on government, exam and job portals.
  • Emailing scanned documents under attachment limits.
  • Saving storage space for large archives of scans.

Privacy and file handling

Where it runs
Runs in your browser
File size limit
100 MB per file

Runs entirely in your browser. Your files and text are not uploaded to our servers.

Limitations

  • Extreme makes text unselectable and unsearchable.
  • Already-optimised PDFs may not get smaller in lossless mode.
  • Hitting an exact target size isn’t guaranteed; try the next level if the file is still too large.

Troubleshooting

“The original is kept”
The file has no large images left to compress. Try Extreme if you need it smaller.
Text looks blurry after compression
Use Balanced or Strong — they never turn text into an image. Extreme does.
Still too large for a portal
Use Extreme, or split the PDF and remove unnecessary pages.

Frequently asked questions

How can I compress a PDF without losing quality?

Use Balanced. It compresses only the images inside the PDF, so text stays sharp and selectable, and you can compare pages side by side before downloading. Lossless changes nothing at all, but saves less.

How do I compress a PDF to 100 KB?

Try Strong first, then Extreme. Extreme converts pages to compressed images, which works well for scanned forms and ID copies. If it’s still too large, remove pages you don’t need with PDF Splitter.

Why did my PDF not get smaller?

Text-based PDFs are often already compact and have no large images to shrink. If the result wouldn’t be smaller, we keep the original and tell you.

Is my PDF uploaded?

No. Compression happens entirely in your browser.

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