PDF Compressor

Compress PDFs in your browser — keep text selectable or maximum compression. Private, nothing uploaded.

Tap to upload your PDF

Choose a compression level below

Processed in your browser — nothing is uploaded

Frequently asked questions

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. Compression runs entirely in your browser — your file never leaves your device.

What's the difference between Keep text and Maximum?

Keep text selectable keeps your text searchable and selectable, with smaller savings. Maximum turns pages into images for the biggest size reduction, but text is no longer selectable.

Why didn't my PDF get much smaller?

Text-based PDFs are already compact, so Keep text mode saves little. For big reductions on scans or image-heavy PDFs, use Maximum compression.

What do the 30%, 60%, and 90% levels do?

They set image quality in Maximum mode only — 30% is smallest, 60% balanced, 90% keeps more detail. Keep text mode has no levels.

Can the file end up larger than the original?

No — if a PDF can't be made smaller, we return your original file unchanged.

Compress PDF files online — free and private

Big PDFs are a nuisance. They bounce back from email size limits, they're slow to upload, and they eat storage. A compressor shrinks them — but most online ones do it by uploading your file to their server first, which is the last thing you want for a contract, a scan of your passport, or a bank statement. This tool compresses entirely in your browser. The file never leaves your device, never reaches a server, and isn't stored anywhere. You pick a PDF, choose how to compress it, and the smaller version is yours.

Two ways to compress

Not every PDF should be compressed the same way, so you choose. "Keep text selectable" optimises the file while leaving the text exactly as it is — still selectable, still searchable, still real text. The savings are modest, but the document stays a proper document. This is the right choice for anything you might need to search, copy from, or read with a screen reader.

"Maximum compression" goes further by turning each page into an image. That's what makes the big size reductions possible, but it comes with a trade-off: once a page is an image, the text on it can no longer be selected or searched. It's the right call for scans and image-heavy PDFs, where the weight is in the pictures anyway and there's little real text to lose.

Why some PDFs barely shrink

Almost all of a PDF's weight comes from images — photos, scans, logos. The text itself is tiny by comparison. So a document that's mostly text is already about as small as it's going to get, and "Keep text" mode won't shrink it much, because there's simply not much to remove. That's normal, not a fault. The big wins come from PDFs full of pictures: a scanned brochure or a photo-heavy report can drop by 80% or more. If your file is mostly text and you really need it smaller, Maximum compression will do it by converting the pages to images — just know you'll trade away selectable text for the size.

It never makes your file bigger

Compressing a small or already-optimised PDF can sometimes produce a result that's actually larger than the original. This tool guards against that: if the compressed version wouldn't be smaller, it simply keeps your original file untouched and tells you it's already as compact as it gets. You never end up with a "compressed" file that's heavier than what you started with.

Works on your phone

It runs in your phone's browser with no app to install. Pick a PDF from your iPhone or Android, compress it, and share the result straight to email, messaging, or wherever it needs to go. Since the file is processed on the device itself, large PDFs depend on how much memory your phone has — but for everyday documents it's quick.

How to compress a PDF

Add your PDF, choose a mode — Keep text selectable or Maximum compression — and for Maximum, pick a quality level. Compress, and you'll see how much smaller the file got. Then download it on a computer, or share it from your phone.

How it compares to other tools

The well-known online compressors usually upload your file to a server, compress it there, and send it back. Several limit how many files you can do per day on the free tier, or reserve the strongest compression for a paid plan. This tool has no daily limit, no account, no watermark, and never uploads anything. It won't out-compress a heavyweight server-side engine on every file — that's not the trade it makes. What it offers instead is privacy, no limits, and a result you get without your document ever leaving your hands. Need to combine several PDFs before compressing, or after? The PDF Merge tool joins them into one, also right in your browser.

Common uses

People compress PDFs to get them under an email attachment limit, to upload to a form or portal with a strict size cap, to save space when archiving, or to make a heavy scanned document quick to send. Anything that's too big to move easily becomes easy once it's compressed.

Frequently asked questions

Are my files uploaded to a server?

No. Compression happens entirely in your browser, on your own device. Your PDF never leaves your computer or phone, and nothing is stored or sent anywhere.

What's the difference between Keep text and Maximum compression?

Keep text selectable shrinks the file while leaving your text real — selectable and searchable — with smaller savings. Maximum compression turns pages into images for a much bigger size reduction, but the text can no longer be selected or searched.

Why didn't my PDF get much smaller?

Text-based PDFs are already compact, so there's little to remove in Keep text mode. The big reductions come from scans and image-heavy PDFs. For a large cut on a text file, use Maximum compression — but note it converts pages to images.