Compress PDF
Make large scanned or image-heavy PDFs much smaller by re-saving each page as an optimised image, with a choice of quality and optional greyscale.
Result
Choose a PDF and a compression level.
How to use this tool
- Choose a PDF and a compression level. Balanced suits most scans.
- Choose Greyscale for black-and-white documents to save more space.
- Select Compress PDF. If the result would not be smaller, you are told to keep the original.
How it works
Each page is rendered as an image (72, 110 or 150 dpi) and saved as a JPEG (50%, 65% or 80% quality), then the images are placed back on pages of the original size. This works very well for scans and photos. For PDFs that are mostly text, the original is usually smaller already.
Example
A scanned contract
A 12-page scan saved at 600 dpi might be 25 MB. At Balanced in greyscale it typically drops to 1–2 MB while staying readable. Results depend on the document.
Privacy and limitations
- Your PDF is processed on your device and is never uploaded.
- The result contains images of the pages: text cannot be selected or searched, and links, form fields and bookmarks are removed. Keep the original if you need them.
- PDF scripts are never run. Password-protected PDFs cannot be opened.
Frequently asked questions
Why did my PDF not get smaller?
Text-based PDFs are already compact; turning their pages into images makes them bigger, so the tool keeps your original in that case.
Which level should I choose?
Balanced for most documents, Smallest file to fit strict email limits, and Best quality when small print must stay sharp.