Compress PDF Tools
Six fixed ceilings — 20 KB, 50 KB, 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB and 1 MB — plus a page where you type your own figure. They all drive the same engine, and it is worth knowing how it gets there. Each page is drawn at about 1.35 times its own size, capped so no single page exceeds eight megapixels, and then re-encoded as a JPEG inside a rebuilt document. The tool searches for the highest JPEG quality that still fits your ceiling before it touches resolution, so a document that can fit at full size will fit at full size. Only when no quality setting is small enough does it start reducing the render scale in fixed steps. Two consequences follow: the output is a picture of your document rather than its text, and if even the smallest combination misses the target the tool refuses the file instead of handing back something oversized.
Compress PDF for Email
Reduce PDF file size to attach in email.
Reduce PDF File Size Free
Reduce PDF size online for free.
Compress Scanned PDF
Compress large scanned PDF documents.
Compress PDF to 100KB Offline
Compress PDF to 100KB directly in your browser. Offline & safe.
Compress PDF To 20kb
Compress PDF to 20KB easily.
Compress PDF To 30kb
Compress PDF to 30KB easily.
Compress PDF To 40kb
Compress PDF to 40KB easily.
Compress PDF To 50kb
Compress your large PDF files to just 50KB.
Compress PDF To 60kb
Compress PDF to 60KB easily.
Compress PDF To 75kb
Compress PDF to 75KB easily.
Compress PDF To 80kb
Compress PDF to 80KB easily.
Compress PDF To 100kb
Compress PDF to 100KB easily.
Compress PDF To 120kb
Compress PDF to 120KB easily.
Compress PDF To 150kb
Compress PDF to 150KB.
Compress PDF To 200kb
Compress PDF to 200KB.
Compress PDF To 250kb
Compress PDF to 250KB.
Compress PDF To 300kb
Compress PDF to 300KB.
Compress PDF To 400kb
Compress PDF to 400KB.
Compress PDF To 500kb
Compress PDF to 500KB.
Compress PDF To 700kb
Compress PDF to 700KB.
Compress PDF To 1MB
Compress PDF to 1MB.
Compress PDF To 2MB
Compress PDF to 2MB.
Compress PDF To 3MB
Compress PDF to 3MB.
Compress PDF To 4MB
Compress PDF to 4MB.
Compress PDF To 5MB
Compress PDF to 5MB.
Compress PDF To 10MB
Compress PDF to 10MB.
Compress PDF To 15MB
Compress PDF to 15MB.
Recommended Workflows in Compress PDF Tools
⚡ Meeting a portal's stated ceiling
Read the exact figure the portal names -> open the page for that figure -> upload and wait for the achieved size, which is reported next to the target -> open the download and read the smallest print on the worst page before submitting.
⚡ Getting under a very tight figure
Cut the page count first with Extract PDF Pages -> crop the wide white margins a flatbed scanner adds -> only then compress, because both steps remove pixels the encoder would otherwise have to pay for.
How to Choose the Right Tool
| If Your Task Is... | Recommended Tool | Action |
|---|---|---|
| The form names a figure below 50 KB | Compress PDF to 20KB | Open Tool |
| A one or two page certificate must fit 50 KB | Compress PDF to 50KB | Open Tool |
| A government portal states 100 KB | Compress PDF to 100KB | Open Tool |
| A recruitment form allows 200 KB | Compress PDF to 200KB | Open Tool |
| A resume or portfolio may be up to 500 KB | Compress PDF to 500KB | Open Tool |
| A multi-page report needs to fit 1 MB | Compress PDF to 1MB | Open Tool |
| The figure you were given is not one of these | Compress PDF | Open Tool |
Best Practices & Practical Tips
- ✓Delete blank and irrelevant pages first. The byte budget is shared across every page, so a five-page document has five times as much to pay for as the one page anybody will read.
- ✓Judge a scan by its worst page. Serial numbers, official seals and handwritten dates go illegible long before printed body text does, so check those rather than the cover page.
- ✓Note the achieved size the tool reports beside the target. If it comes back far below the ceiling, the quality search succeeded early and there is nothing more to gain from retrying.
- ✓If a barcode or QR code appears anywhere in the document, scan the compressed version with a phone before you rely on it.
- ✓Choose the page for the exact figure you were given rather than a tighter one. A needlessly small ceiling costs quality you were never asked to give up.
- ✓Keep the uncompressed original for your own records, since it is the only copy whose text can still be searched.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- ⚠️Running a document that is already under the ceiling. It will be rebuilt as images anyway, so you lose the text layer and gain nothing.
- ⚠️Compressing a file that has already been compressed here. The second pass re-encodes JPEG data that has already lost detail, which shows quickly and saves little.
- ⚠️Reading the size from the filename or from the tool's title rather than from the file itself. The reported figure and your operating system's file properties are the only reliable numbers.
- ⚠️Trying to fit a fifty-page scanned book into a figure meant for a one-page certificate. The tool will refuse rather than pretend, but the time spent waiting is avoidable.
- ⚠️Assuming a refusal means the file is broken. It means no combination of quality and scale reached the target, which is a statement about the ceiling being too tight for that many pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do scanned PDFs take longer than digital ones?
Every page here is rendered and re-encoded, so the work scales with pixels rather than with text. A scan has full-page bitmaps at high resolution, which are slower to draw and slower to compress than a page of vector text.
Does the compressed file keep its selectable text?
No. Pages are redrawn as JPEG images inside a rebuilt PDF, so the result cannot be searched, selected or copied from. Keep the original if any of that matters to you.
How does the tool decide how much quality to give up?
It bisects the JPEG quality scale between roughly 0.05 and 0.95 at full render resolution, keeping the best result that stays under your ceiling. Resolution is only reduced, in fixed steps, if nothing on that scale fits.
What happens if my document simply cannot fit?
You get a clear refusal naming the figure it could not reach, and no download. It will not quietly hand you a file that is still over the limit.
Is there a limit on what I can upload?
A document may be up to 80 MB and 300 pages, with a batch capped at 20 files and 250 MB in total. Those are limits of what a browser tab can safely hold in memory, not licensing restrictions.
Can I set a figure that is not listed here?
Yes. Every one of these pages lets you edit the target before you run it, and the general Compress PDF page starts from a figure you choose.