Compress PDF
Reduce PDF Size Without Losing Quality
There's an art to PDF compression: shrink as much as possible without making text fuzzy or photos pixelated. Aggressive 'compress everything' tools strip too much and produce visually compromised files. Sensible compression — what we do by default — preserves text rendering, downsamples photos to 150 DPI (fine for screen and standard printing), and strips embedded fonts and metadata that don't change how the PDF looks.
- Works in your browser — no install
- Files private and isolated to your workspace
- Free tier covers most everyday use
What you should know
What gets removed safely
Embedded font subsets that aren't actually used, document metadata you don't need (author, comments history), thumbnail previews PDF readers regenerate anyway, duplicate XObjects, and unnecessary color profiles. None of these change how the PDF looks.
What we downsample (and what we don't)
Photos and images: from whatever they are down to 150 DPI (standard screen + print). Text: never touched, stays vector-crisp. Vector graphics (logos, line art): never rasterized, stay sharp at any zoom.
Realistic size reductions
Image-heavy reports / presentations / scanned documents: 50–80% smaller. Mixed text-and-image documents: 20–40% smaller. Pure text PDFs (e.g., a Word doc exported as PDF): often already optimized — only 5–15% reduction is possible.
When you need print-grade
If you're sending the PDF to a commercial printer, skip compression. Send the original. Compressed PDFs at 150 DPI look fine on screen and home printers but show banding or softness on offset / high-DPI digital printing.
Tips that actually help
- If text looks fuzzy after compression, that PDF probably had its text stored as images already (a scan). Run OCR first to turn it back into real text.
- If photos look grainy, the original was probably already low-resolution — compression didn't cause it.
- Always keep the original. 'Compressed forever' means you can't undo if you need the high-quality version later.
Compress without losing quality.
No install, no signup wall, no watermark on paid plans.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between 'lossy' and 'lossless' PDF compression?
Lossless removes redundancy (duplicate fonts, metadata, XObjects) without changing how the PDF looks. Lossy downsamples images — necessary for big size reductions but visible if pushed too far. Our default is mostly lossless plus mild image downsampling.
Why is my PDF still big after compression?
It was probably already optimized, or the content is mostly text that compresses minimally. Try splitting into smaller PDFs or removing pages you don't need.
Can compression damage my PDF?
No. The compressed PDF is a new file — your original is untouched and stays in your workspace.
Should I compress before or after merging?
After. Merge first, then compress the merged file once. Compressing twice doesn't help and can introduce artifacts.
Will compression remove signatures or annotations?
No — signatures, annotations, and form fields are preserved. Only image bytes and unused metadata get optimized.
Related scenarios
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