Compress PDF Online

Compressing a PDF online should be simple: upload the file, choose how much smaller it needs to be, and download a version that still reads clearly. This tool does exactly that, entirely in your browser. Your PDF is never uploaded to a server, there is no account to create, and there is no watermark on the result. That matters most for private documents such as resumes, bank statements, ID scans, and contracts, where uploading the original to a stranger's server is a risk you do not need to take.

Most PDFs are large for one of two reasons. Digital documents exported from Word, Google Docs, or Canva contain vector text, which is already light, plus embedded photos that can be heavy. Scanned documents are different: they are photographs of paper, often several megabytes per page, wrapped inside a PDF. That is why a text-only resume may barely shrink, while a phone scan of the same resume can drop by 80% or more. If a file cannot be made smaller without ruining it, this tool keeps your original intact rather than degrading it.

Compress a PDF in 3 steps

1. Drag and drop your PDF into the tool above, or click to browse for it on your computer or phone.
2. Choose a preset: Low, Recommended, or Extreme. See below for which one fits your file.
3. Compare the original and compressed sizes, then download the smaller file. No sign-up is required.

Low vs. Recommended vs. Extreme: which preset should you use?

Low Compression is built for print quality. It lightly recompresses embedded images while keeping text fonts and vector lines untouched, so letters stay sharp at any zoom level. Use Low when quality matters more than size, for example for a portfolio or a document you plan to print.

Recommended is the best choice for email and sharing. It reduces photos to normal screen resolution while preserving vector text, which is usually enough to get a large scan under common email attachment limits without making it look fuzzy. Start here unless you have a strict size cap.

Extreme, under 200 KB, is for strict upload portals. It iteratively steps image sizes down until the output tries to hit under 200 KB, and it can rebuild pages as images as a fallback when vector compression alone cannot reach the target. Text may no longer be selectable in that fallback case, so try Recommended first if your portal limit allows it. Learn more in our guide on how to compress a PDF to under 200KB or 100KB.

What size should you compress your PDF to?

• Under 100 KB or 200 KB: job portals, visa applications, passport offices, and university forms. These are the strictest caps, and they are also the most common reason a submission is rejected for being just a few kilobytes over the limit.
• Under 1 MB to 2 MB: email attachments and messaging apps, where a scanned contract or statement needs to send reliably without splitting it into parts.
• Under 5 MB to 10 MB: cloud storage and general sharing, where you want a noticeably smaller file without worrying about a hard portal cap.

If you are unsure which cap applies, check the upload form itself: it usually states the limit in KB or MB before you submit. Aim slightly below that number, not exactly at it, so a small difference in how sizes are counted does not push you over.

Compress a PDF on Mac, iPhone, or without Adobe Acrobat

The same tool works in Safari and Chrome on desktop and mobile, with no app to install. On Mac, it avoids the blurry text that Apple Preview's built-in Reduce File Size filter can cause — see our guide on how to compress a PDF on Mac without Preview blurring text. On iPhone and iPad, you can compress in mobile Safari without a paid App Store subscription, as explained in our guide on how to shrink a PDF on iPhone and iPad for free. And if you do not want to pay for Adobe Acrobat Pro just to shrink a file, see how to compress a PDF without Adobe Acrobat.

In short: use Low for print, Recommended for email and sharing, and Extreme when a portal demands under 200 KB. Your file stays on your device the whole time, and you only download the version you are happy with.