Is my document uploaded?

No. Parsing, rewriting and any rendering happen in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, logged or stored.

Why did lossless compression barely shrink my file?

A lossless rewrite only reclaims structural overhead such as duplicated objects and uncompressed cross-reference tables. If the file is mostly high-resolution images, that overhead is a tiny fraction of the total, so the saving is small. Set a target size to allow rasterising.

What exactly do I lose when it rasterises?

Each page becomes a JPEG image of the page. It looks the same, but the text is no longer selectable, searchable or screen-reader accessible, and links and form fields stop working. That is why we never do it unless you set a target the lossless path cannot reach.

Can it compress a password-protected PDF?

No. Encrypted documents cannot be opened for editing in the browser, so they are rejected rather than silently mangled.

Compress PDF

Runs in your browser

Shrink a PDF to a target size, in your browser. A lossless rewrite is tried first, and pages are only rasterised if a hard limit demands it — and you are told when that happens.

Maximum size (KB)

5120 KB = 5 MB. Blank means lossless only.

Quality trade-offAllow rasterising to hit the targetOff keeps text selectable, but the target may be missed.

Drop PDFs hereor click to choose — nothing is uploaded

About this tool

Most PDF compressors give you a vague 'low / medium / high' dial and no idea what was traded away. This one is explicit. It first rewrites the document structure losslessly, which reclaims overhead without touching a pixel or breaking text selection. If you set a size limit that a lossless rewrite cannot meet, it then renders each page to an image and searches encoder quality and resolution until the budget is met — and reports plainly that it did so, because after rasterising the text is a picture of text and is no longer selectable or searchable.

How to use

Set the maximum size you need. 5 MB suits most email attachments; leave it blank for a lossless rewrite only.
Leave 'allow rasterising' on if hitting the number matters more than keeping text selectable.
Add one or more PDF files.
Click Compress, then check the result summary — it states whether rasterising was needed.

When to use this tool

Getting a PDF under an email or upload-portal attachment limit.
Shrinking a scanned document before archiving it.
Reducing a design proof so it loads quickly for a reviewer.
Meeting a strict file-size rule on a government or university submission form.

Tips

Try a lossless run first: if the file is mostly text, structural savings may be enough and nothing is degraded.
If the PDF is mainly scanned images, rasterising is usually the only way to make a real dent.
Turn rasterising off when the document must remain searchable, for example anything going into a legal archive.

Limitations

A lossless rewrite only reclaims structural overhead; on an already-optimised PDF the saving is small.
Reaching an aggressive target requires rasterising, after which text is an image: no longer selectable or searchable.
Password-protected PDFs cannot be compressed.

FAQ

Is my document uploaded?: No. Parsing, rewriting and any rendering happen in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, logged or stored.
Why did lossless compression barely shrink my file?: A lossless rewrite only reclaims structural overhead such as duplicated objects and uncompressed cross-reference tables. If the file is mostly high-resolution images, that overhead is a tiny fraction of the total, so the saving is small. Set a target size to allow rasterising.
What exactly do I lose when it rasterises?: Each page becomes a JPEG image of the page. It looks the same, but the text is no longer selectable, searchable or screen-reader accessible, and links and form fields stop working. That is why we never do it unless you set a target the lossless path cannot reach.
Can it compress a password-protected PDF?: No. Encrypted documents cannot be opened for editing in the browser, so they are rejected rather than silently mangled.