What makes a PDF heavy
Text hardly weighs anything: a page of plain text takes just a few kilobytes. What bloats a PDF is images: photos, high-resolution logos and, above all, scanned documents, which are really a picture of each page.
A 10-page scan can weigh 5 to 30 MB, while the same content as real text would be under 200 KB. That is why a scanned contract is much heavier than one exported from a word processor.
Two ways to shrink it
The first is keeping the text: the images inside the PDF are reduced and the text stays untouched, so you can still select, copy and search it. It is the best option if the PDF has photos or graphics.
The second is maximum compression: each page is turned into a lighter image. It shrinks the most, especially scans, but the text is no longer selectable. Use it when the limit is very strict (for example 200 KB) or when the PDF was already a scan.
Step by step with our tool
- Open “Compress PDF” and choose or drop your file.
- Pick “Keep the text” or “Maximum compression”.
- Choose a level (low, medium or high) or a maximum size, such as 1 MB, and click Compress.
- Download the resulting PDF and check how much the file size dropped.
Everything happens in your browser: the PDF is never uploaded to a server, so you can compress contracts and personal documents without exposing them.
Tips for better results
- Always start from the original: each compression loses a bit of image quality, and repeating it doesn't help.
- If you are scanning yourself, use 150 to 200 dots per inch and, if the document is only text, black and white: it weighs far less than color and reads just as well.
- Remove unneeded pages first: fewer pages, less weight. You can use “Split PDF” or “Organize PDF”.
- If the PDF is built from photos, shrink the photos first with “Compress image” and only then combine them into a PDF.
What to do if it doesn't reach the requested size
If you chose “Keep the text” and the result is still too big, try “Maximum compression”. If it still doesn't fit, lower the quality level or split the PDF into two smaller parts. A 100-page PDF at 200 KB is very demanding: there is no room left for quality.
Common portal limits
Many portals ask for PDFs of up to 1 MB, 2 MB or 5 MB; job and government sites are usually stricter and ask for 200 KB or 500 KB. For each case there is a tool with the size already set: for example “Compress PDF to 1 MB” or “Compress PDF to 200 KB”.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose quality when compressing a PDF?
A little in the images, because to make the file lighter it has to be compressed more. With “Keep the text” the text is not touched; with “Maximum compression” everything becomes an image.
Can I still select the text after compressing?
Yes, with “Keep the text”. Not with “Maximum compression”, because each page becomes an image.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. Compression runs in your browser and the file never leaves your device.
Why did my PDF barely shrink?
If it is mostly text or was already optimized, there is little left to reduce. Try “Maximum compression” or a smaller target size.