Make a PDF smaller. By default only the images are scaled down and recompressed: text and lines stay sharp and selectable. In scan mode every page becomes an image; that gives the smallest file, but the text is then no longer selectable.
Only the images are scaled down and recompressed. Text and lines stay as they are.
Works best on PDFs with lots of images or scans. On already-optimised, text-light PDFs the result can turn out larger — we tell you when that happens and you keep the original.
This tool runs entirely in your browser: your PDF is not sent to a server. A PDF with a password opens here with that password, or you remove the protection with the Unlock tool; the password also stays in your browser.
Good to know
Most mail servers don't measure your file, they measure the encoded copy that travels. An attachment is turned into text along the way and grows by about a third in the process. A 9 MB PDF therefore crosses a 10 MB limit and bounces, often a quarter of an hour later. So set your target size well below the limit you have to meet: 7 MB where 10 is allowed, 18 MB where 25 is. If the file is still too large after that, send it as a download link instead of an attachment.
A level applies one fixed setting, and you only find out afterwards what it saved. A target size works the other way round: you name a number and the compression is matched to it. The second is useful when a limit is hard, the first when you just want to free up some room without giving up sharpness. How much there is to gain depends on what is inside. Scans and photos shrink a lot; a PDF that came out of Word is mostly text and already compact, so a heavier setting adds little. For a colour contract that was scanned, greyscale often helps more than one step up.
Compression throws away image detail, and it shows first in the places that carry legal weight: a signature, a stamp, a small footnote, a dimension on a drawing. So open the result at one hundred percent and look at the smallest piece of text before you send it. Keep the original as well; sharpness you have given up does not come back, and a second pass over the same file gains almost nothing. With confidential documents it helps that the work happens in your own browser: the file stays on your computer.
Yes, with the Keep text method: only the images are reduced and text and lines stay as they were. Scan mode turns every page into an image; that gives the smallest file, but the text can no longer be selected.
A PDF with few images, such as an export from Word, is usually compact already: the savings are in photos and scans. If the result would be larger than the original, the tool says so and you keep the original.
Yes. In both cases the file gets fewer megabytes. The number of pages and the page size stay the same.
No. The work happens in your own browser, on your computer or phone: your file is not sent to our server. Only if you then choose to send the result as a download link is it uploaded.
Yes, up to a limit. Without an account you can do 3 operations per category (all PDF tools count together, for example) in a session, and with a free account 10 per category. If you need more, you need a subscription. See the prices.
Yes. After the operation you can send the result as a download link, even if it is too large for an email attachment. To do so, sign in or create a free account.