Shrink PDF files with honest before-and-after sizes: a lossless mode that keeps text selectable, and image modes for maximum savings on scans. No uploads.
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Processed privately in your browser — files never leave your device
Drop a PDF here or click to choose
Up to 25 files, 200.0 MB each — nothing is uploaded
Image mode re-encodes the scanned pages, which is where the saving comes from. Lossless mode is the choice when the text must stay selectable.
Input
scanned-invoice.pdf, 8.4 MB, image mode at medium qualityOutput
A 1.2 MB PDF. Both sizes are shown side by side before you download, so a compression that saved nothing is obvious.Compress PDF is honest about a truth most compressors hide: different files need different strategies, and some files barely compress at all. It gives you both real strategies and tells you exactly what each costs.
Lossless mode restructures the file — object streams, deduplication, optional metadata removal — keeping text perfectly selectable and searchable. Savings are real but modest, best on structure-heavy digital documents. The image modes (Balanced at 150 DPI, Strong at 100 DPI, or fully custom DPI/quality with optional grayscale) re-render each page as a compressed image: dramatic savings on scans and photo-heavy files, at the explicit cost that text stops being selectable. The tool says this before you run it, not after.
And if the result isn't smaller than your original, it tells you exactly that and recommends keeping your file — no fake "compressed!" banner over a bigger download. All of it happens in your browser; your document is never uploaded.
Drop a PDF into the tool.
Pick a mode: Lossless to keep text selectable, Balanced or Strong for maximum savings on scans, or Custom for exact DPI and quality control.
Optionally enable grayscale (image modes) or metadata removal (lossless).
Click Compress and review the real before/after sizes.
Download — or keep your original if the tool reports no real savings.
Image modes rasterize pages: text becomes non-selectable, non-searchable, and inaccessible to screen readers — keep the original for editing. Lossless savings depend heavily on how the source was produced and can be small. Already-compressed files may not shrink at all (the tool will say so).
Use Lossless mode — it restructures the file's internals (object streams, deduplication) without re-rendering anything, so text stays sharp, selectable, and searchable. Savings are usually 5–30% depending on how the file was produced.
For scans and image-heavy files, use Strong mode (100 DPI, 60% quality) and enable grayscale if color isn't needed. Check the real output size shown after compression; the Custom mode lets you push DPI and quality lower if you need to hit a hard limit.
Already-optimized PDFs (especially ones produced by modern export tools) can grow when re-processed. This tool detects that and tells you plainly, recommending you keep the original — it will never present a larger file as a successful compression.
Balanced, Strong, and Custom re-render each page as a JPEG image. Files get much smaller, but text in the output can no longer be selected, searched, or read by screen readers. The tool warns you before running; use Lossless when text function matters.