Compress a PDF online

Shrink a PDF so it fits an email, a form or an upload limit. It runs in your browser, so the file stays on your device.

Open the board Free. No sign-up. Your files stay on your device.

How to do it

  1. Open the board and drop your PDF onto it (or use the + button).
  2. Select the PDF card and open the Compress tab.
  3. Choose the picture quality and the resolution (dpi). Lower numbers give a smaller file.
  4. Press the compress button, check the new size in the results, then download.

How it works, and what to expect

The compressor redraws every page as a picture and packs the pages into a new PDF. That usually makes scanned and picture-heavy files much smaller. The trade-off is that the text in the result can no longer be selected or searched. If you need to keep selectable text, try a higher quality, or split the file into parts instead.

When to use it

Reach for it when an email bounces because of size, a school or government portal caps uploads, or a scanned contract is too heavy to share from a phone. It suits a copy you send for review or approval, not the original you archive.

Tips for better results

  • Start with the default quality and look at the result before lowering anything. Very low quality makes small print blurry.
  • Keep the original. The compressed copy turns text into pictures, so it is for sending, not for editing or long-term storage.
  • If the file is still too big, remove pages you do not need or split it into parts, then compress again.
  • A PDF that is already mostly text may barely shrink. That is normal and means it was small to begin with.

Questions

Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?

No. The work happens in your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server.

How small can a PDF get?

It depends on the file. Scans and photo-heavy PDFs can shrink a lot. PDFs that are already mostly text may not shrink much, because the tool turns pages into pictures.

Is there a file size limit?

There is no fixed limit on the site, but very large files depend on your device memory. If a big file fails, split it into parts first.

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