Compress a PDF

Make a PDF smaller by re-encoding the pictures inside it. Text and vector drawings are left exactly as they are.

JPEG photographs only

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How to compress a PDF

  1. Drop the heavy PDF inDrop one PDF onto the box above. The list shows what it weighs now.
  2. Pick a levelLighter keeps images near their current quality; stronger re-encodes them at a lower one. Text and vector drawings are untouched either way.
  3. Compress and check the savingSelect Compress, then read the size on the finished file before you take it. If nothing could be saved, your original comes back untouched and the result says why.

Questions

Why did my file barely shrink?

Either it is mostly text, or its pictures are not the kind this tool can work on. It re-encodes photographs stored as JPEG, which is what a camera, a phone and most scanners produce. Line art and screenshots stored losslessly are left alone, and a file made only of those comes back unchanged with the result saying so.

Will the text get blurry?

No. Text and vector graphics are copied through untouched. Only raster images are re-encoded, so what changes is photographs and scans.

How much smaller should I expect?

A document of JPEG scans or photographs typically falls by 40–70 per cent. A text report with two logos may fall by 2 per cent. A scan stored losslessly rather than as a JPEG will not fall at all, and the result says as much rather than pretending otherwise.

Is anything removed from the file?

Nothing. Only the photographs are rewritten, in place. Bookmarks, links, form fields, text, vector drawings and metadata all come through untouched, and the file is repacked with object streams rather than pruned.