Compress a PDF
Most of a heavy PDF is its images, so that is what this tool works on. It re-encodes them on your device, shows you exactly how much it saved, and tells you plainly when there is nothing to gain.
- Runs in your browser
- Nothing is uploaded
- No sign-up
How to use it
- Choose your PDF. Nothing is uploaded — it is read in this page.
- Pick a level: Light keeps flat-colour images exactly as they are, Balanced suits most files, Strong is for sharing on screen.
- Press Compress and watch the real before-and-after size.
- Download the smaller file, or keep your original if the saving isn't worth it.
Your privacy
The PDF is compressed inside this page. It is never uploaded, logged or stored.
- Runs in your browserThe work happens on your device, not on our servers.
- Nothing is uploadedYour text, numbers and files never leave this page.
- No sign-upNo account, no email, no watermark.
- How we handle privacy
Questions
Why didn't my PDF get smaller?
Because its size isn't images. A document of text, tables and vector drawings is already compact, and we don't touch text, fonts or vectors — rewriting them would change how the pages look. The tool says so instead of returning a file that is no smaller.
Will my screenshots and diagrams go blurry?
No. Flat-colour images (screenshots, diagrams, scanned text) are detected and kept sharp with a 256-colour palette instead of JPEG, which is what makes them mushy elsewhere. Photographs are re-encoded as JPEG, where that is the right choice.
Can I compress to an exact size, like 1 MB?
Not yet. You can try Balanced and then Strong and watch the resulting size — each pass reports its real result. A target-size mode is on the list.
Is the text still selectable and searchable afterwards?
Yes. Text stays text — it is never flattened into a picture, so selecting, copying and searching all keep working.
Is my file uploaded to a server?
No. The compression runs entirely in your browser, which is unusual for this kind of tool — most sites upload your document first.