How to compress a PDF
- Drop the PDF above.
- Choose how small: a little, balanced or as small as possible.
- Compress and download.
What gets smaller, and what stays
Most of a large PDF is usually its pictures: scanned pages, photos and screenshots, often stored at far more pixels than a screen or a printer needs. The compressor makes them smaller (as JPEG, at most 2,400, 1,600 or 1,100 pixels on the long side), compresses any part of the file stored without compression, and removes thumbnails and parts nothing uses. The text, the fonts, links, bookmarks and form fields are left exactly as they are, so the PDF still searches, copies and prints the same.
Which setting?
- A little smaller: for documents you will print; pictures stay sharp.
- Balanced: for email attachments and websites. A 20 MB scanned contract is often 2 to 4 MB.
- As small as possible: for reading on a screen, or a portal that only takes small files.
If the result would not be smaller (a PDF of plain text is already compact), nothing is downloaded and you are told why.
Need the text checked, translated or turned into captions? Open the document in the CadreScripts editor: it keeps the layout and fonts too.
Questions
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. It is compressed in your browser, on your computer, and never leaves it.
Will the text still be searchable?
Yes. Only pictures are changed; the text, fonts, links and forms are kept as they are.
Can it open a password-protected PDF?
No. Open it, save a copy without the password, then compress the copy.
Is it really free?
Yes: no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on the number of files.