Compress PDF
Shrink a PDF by recompressing its embedded photos and images — real, measurable size reduction, done entirely in your browser. Works best on scanned documents and image-heavy PDFs.
Click to browse, or drag & drop a PDF file here
Accepted: .pdfHow to compress a PDF in 3 steps
Drag and drop or click to select any PDF file. No file size limit — the tool runs entirely in your browser with no uploads to any server.
Pick Low to keep the best quality, Recommended for a balanced result, or High to get the smallest possible file size.
Click "Compress PDF" and download instantly. The tool shows exactly how many bytes were saved and how many images were recompressed.
Why would you need to compress a PDF?
PDFs with embedded photos and scanned pages can grow very large — making them slow to email, hard to upload, or impossible to attach to online forms with file-size limits. Compressing a PDF reduces the size of those embedded images so the file is lighter and easier to share, while text, fonts, and vector graphics stay completely untouched. Whether you're submitting a scanned application, sending a photo-heavy report, or archiving a document for long-term storage — compression saves time and removes friction.
Where compressing a PDF matters most
Most email providers cap attachments at 10–25 MB. Compressing a scanned PDF before sending keeps it under the limit without needing a third-party file-sharing link.
Government portals, HR systems, and application forms often enforce strict file-size limits. A quick compress usually brings a scanned document well within range.
Scanned books, contracts, and receipts are often far larger than they need to be. Recompressing their embedded images cuts file size significantly with minimal visible quality loss.
Smaller files open faster and use less data — useful when sending or receiving PDFs on a phone or over a limited mobile connection.
What this PDF compressor supports
Embedded JPEG images are decoded, optionally downscaled, and re-encoded at your chosen quality — genuine size reduction, not just metadata stripping.
Low preserves near-original quality. Recommended balances clarity and size. High gives the smallest file at the cost of image sharpness.
Only JPEG images inside your PDF are processed. Fonts, text, and vector graphics are never modified at any compression level.
All processing runs locally in your browser using pdf-lib. Your file never leaves your device — safe for confidential or legally-restricted documents.
No software or plugin needed. Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, and Android — just open the page in any modern browser and compress.
After compression, the tool shows the original size, new size, percentage saved, and number of images recompressed — so you know exactly what changed.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Need to do more with your PDFs? SARVARC Workspace has you covered — all free, all browser-based, all private.