Compress PDF
Reduce the size of a PDF file by resampling images — with a savings preview.
Files are processed locally in your browser — nothing is sent to a server.
Drag a PDF file here or click to select.
Reduce PDF file size
Free PDF compression lets you quickly reduce a PDF without signing in and without a watermark. Upload a document, choose the compression level and download a lighter file. The tool is perfect when you want to reduce the PDF size for sending by email, adding as an attachment or archiving scans.
How compression works and full privacy
Compression works by re-rendering every page as a lower-quality JPG image — this makes scans and image-heavy documents significantly smaller, but text is no longer selectable (it becomes an image). All processing happens locally in your browser — no file is ever sent to a server, so confidential contracts, invoices or scans stay with you alone.
Frequently asked questions
- Are my PDF files sent to a server?
- No. Compression happens entirely in your browser. Documents never leave your device and are never sent to any server.
- How does PDF compression work?
- Every page of the document is re-rendered as a lower-quality JPG image and then assembled into a new PDF file. This makes scans and image-heavy documents much smaller. The downside is that text is no longer selectable — it becomes an image.
- When will the file not get smaller?
- If the document mainly contains text or is already well optimised, converting to JPG may not help and can sometimes even make the file larger. In that case the tool will honestly inform you that it was unable to reduce the size.