Email attachment: compress → verify → send
- Upload the PDF and start with Balanced preset; use Smallest size if still over your mailbox limit.
- Preview signatures and fine print at 100% zoom before upload.
Compression runs in your browser with PDF.js and pdf-lib. Your PDF is not uploaded to EverydayTools servers.
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PDF files grow large primarily because of embedded images — scanned documents and photo-heavy PDFs can easily reach 10–50 MB. This compressor runs locally and offers three presets: **Smallest size** (maximum reduction), **Balanced** (recommended for most files), and **Best quality** (lightest compression, highest visual fidelity).
With **Keep text searchable** enabled, pdf-lib optimizes structure and metadata without rasterizing text-heavy pages when possible. With it off — or on scan-heavy pages — PDF.js renders pages to canvas, encodes JPEG at the preset quality, and pdf-lib rebuilds the PDF. Text-only PDFs may shrink only 5–15% because PDF text is already compact.
Drag and drop or click to browse (up to 50 MB). The file stays in your browser — nothing is uploaded to our servers.
Pick Smallest size for maximum reduction, Balanced for everyday use (recommended), or Best quality when you need the least visual loss. Toggle Keep text searchable for forms and text PDFs; turn it off for stronger shrink on scans.
Click Compress PDF. The tool shows before/after size and percent saved when the output is smaller.
Download the compressed PDF. If still too large for a portal cap, try Smallest size, turn off searchable mode for scans, split the file, or use Compress PDF to 1MB for an automatic under-1-MB target.
Common real-world scenarios where this tool saves time.
Shrink PDFs for Gmail (25 MB), Outlook (20 MB), or stricter corporate limits. Start with Balanced; use Smallest size if the file is still too large.
Reduce scan-heavy PDFs before HR, legal, or government portals. For a strict 1 MB cap, use Compress PDF to 1MB after trying Smallest size here.
Archive smaller copies of large PDF folders without uploading files to a third-party compressor.
Compress before sharing Drive or Dropbox links so mobile recipients download faster.
Turn multi-page scanner output into email-safe PDFs — turn off Keep text searchable when you do not need selectable text on scans.
Step-by-step chains that connect related tools for common tasks.
Input
8.5 MB scanned report (all images) · Preset: Balanced · Searchable text: offOutput
2.1 MB compressed · ~75% reductionScanned PDFs are full-page images. Balanced JPEG encoding at moderate render scale shrinks the file dramatically while keeping on-screen text readable.
Input
12 MB brochure (photos + text) · Preset: Smallest sizeOutput
3.4 MB compressed · ~72% reductionPhoto-heavy pages compress aggressively under Smallest size. Fine print may soften at high zoom; use Best quality if the file will be printed.
Input
1.2 MB contract (text, no images) · Keep text searchable: onOutput
1.1 MB compressed · ~8% reductionLossless metadata optimization only — little image data to re-encode. For large text-only PDFs, font subsetting in the source app helps more than raster compression.
Processing runs entirely on your device. (1) **Keep text searchable on** — pdf-lib re-saves with object streams and strips redundant metadata; text-heavy pages may be copied unchanged when the page has enough text items. (2) **Raster mode** (searchable off, or when a page cannot be copied) — PDF.js renders each page to a canvas; JPEG quality follows the preset (Smallest size ~30%, Balanced ~60%, Best quality ~80% at the tool’s render scale). (3) pdf-lib assembles the output PDF. Reduction % shown is the exact byte difference between upload and download.
Free tools for reducing PDF file size.
| Tool | Privacy | Browser-based | Compression levels | Watermark | Signup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EverydayTools | Local only — no upload | Yes | Smallest / Balanced / Best quality | None | No |
| SmallPDF | Server upload | Yes | One level | None (free) | Optional |
| ILovePDF | Server upload | Yes | One level | None (free) | Optional |
| Adobe Acrobat (web) | Adobe cloud upload | Yes | Multiple presets | None | Required |
| PDF24 Tools | Server upload (EU) | Yes | Multiple presets | None | No |
Typical size reduction with the Balanced preset (searchable off on scans).
| PDF Type | Content | Expected Reduction | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scanned document | 100% raster images | 50–80% | Best compression candidate |
| Mixed (text + photos) | Text + embedded photos | 30–60% | Depends on photo count and quality |
| Presentation/slides | Text + diagrams + photos | 20–50% | Photo slides compress well; diagram slides less so |
| Text-only | No embedded images | 5–15% | Minimal gains — re-export from source instead |
| Vector-heavy brochure | Mostly vector + some photos | 10–30% | Only photo elements compress significantly |
| Strict 1 MB portal cap | Any content type | Varies | Use /compress-pdf-to-1mb for automatic target sizing |
Which PDF content types shrink with raster compression and which stay intact.
| Content Type | Compression Applied | Quality Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Embedded JPEG/PNG in raster mode | Re-encoded as JPEG at preset quality | Slight to moderate detail loss depending on preset |
| Text-heavy pages (searchable on) | Often copied or optimized losslessly | Text and vectors stay sharp when not rasterized |
| Vector graphics | Unchanged when page is copied | No change when vectors are preserved |
| Bookmarks / hyperlinks | Preserved in structure | No change |
| Metadata (author, title) | Stripped or reduced in optimization pass | No visible change |
Best results on scans and photo-heavy exports. Mostly text? Keep text searchable on and expect modest byte savings.
| Related tool | Use this tool when | Use related tool when |
|---|---|---|
| Compress PDF to 1MB | You want to pick Smallest size, Balanced, or Best quality yourself and accept whatever file size results | A portal requires a strict maximum (e.g. under 1 MB) and you want the tool to iterate quality until the cap is met |
| Merge PDF | You need to shrink one existing PDF’s file size | You have multiple PDFs to combine — merge first, then compress the merged output |
| Split PDF | Your PDF is within the 50 MB size limit | You want to extract or work with specific page ranges before compressing |
| PDF to Image | You need a smaller PDF file that still opens as a PDF | You need standalone PNG/JPEG pages, not a PDF |
Balanced is the recommended preset for most PDFs — good size reduction without the aggressive loss of Smallest size.
Merge multiple PDFs first, then compress once on the combined file to avoid compounding quality loss.
Government and job portals often require an exact maximum (e.g. 1 MB). Target-size compression automates quality steps.
Store uncompressed sources; share compressed copies for email and uploads.
Smallest size can look acceptable on desktop but softer on high-DPI phones — check legibility before client delivery.
Smallest size uses aggressive JPEG encoding — artefacts show in print. Use Best quality or Balanced for anything that will be printed or archived at high fidelity.
Re-compressing adds quality loss with little extra savings. Compress from the original source file when possible.
Keep text searchable on for lossless optimization only. For text-only files over a few MB, enable font subsetting in Word or your design app.
Raster compression is lossy. Keep the uncompressed original for print, legal, or re-editing.
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Smallest size applies the strongest JPEG compression and lower render scale for maximum byte reduction. Balanced is recommended for everyday use. Best quality keeps higher JPEG quality and scale for the least visual loss.
Scanned PDFs often shrink 50–80% on Balanced with searchable mode off. Mixed text and photos: 30–60%. Text-only with searchable on: often 5–15%.
With Keep text searchable on, text-heavy pages are usually preserved as vectors. With it off, pages may be rasterized to JPEG and lose selectable text — best for scans when you do not need search.
Only after you remove the password and save an unlocked copy. Encrypted files cannot be processed in the browser.
Start with Balanced. If the attachment is still too large, try Smallest size or split the PDF. For a fixed 1 MB portal limit, use Compress PDF to 1MB.
Up to 50 MB per file so compression stays stable in your browser. There is no fixed page count limit, but very long PDFs may take longer to process.
Some text-only PDFs are already optimized — re-saving adds overhead. The tool reports this and names the download “-processed” when size increases.
This tool lets you choose a quality preset without a fixed output size. Compress PDF to 1MB automatically lowers quality until the file is under 1 MB (1,048,576 bytes).
Flatten first only when you must lock form fields or annotations for submission. If you only need smaller size, compress directly to preserve interactivity. After flattening, compression can still reduce image-heavy pages but cannot restore editable fields.
Compress PDF (/compress-pdf) runs in your browser when supported—inputs are not uploaded to EverydayTools servers.
The before/after sizes and reduction percentage reflect the actual byte length of your upload versus the generated PDF. If the output is larger than the input, the UI states that explicitly.
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Reviewed by EverydayTools Editorial Team on 2026-05-17.
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