compress a PDF
Make a scanned document small enough to send, or tidy a file losslessly. The tool says what each way costs before you pick.
There is no Google Drive or Dropbox button on purpose: those send the file through a server. Here is what happens instead.
in three steps
- Drop the PDF in, or choose it. The tool reads the first pages to see whether there is text to lose.
- Pick a way: rebuild the pages as pictures, which is the real reduction for a scan, or tidy the file losslessly.
- Compress, and check the real size. Anything that came out bigger is handed back untouched.
how it works
When you drop a file in, the tool reads the text of the first few pages. That is how it knows whether your document is a scan — pictures of paper, with nothing to lose — or a typed document whose text would be destroyed by the very thing that would make it small. It says which one it found, beside the filename.
Rebuilding redraws every page at the resolution you choose and stores it as a JPEG. For a scan that is the whole reduction, and usually most of the file. Tidying does something far more modest and completely safe: it drops the metadata, discards objects nothing references, and repacks the file.
Either way the result is measured, and if it came out larger than what you started with, you get your original back.
why doing this locally matters here
Compressing is what people do when a document is too big to send — which means the document is on its way somewhere, and is usually the complete version of whatever it is: a scanned passport for a form, a signed contract, a hospital discharge summary.
Uploading the whole thing to a compression service to make it small enough to email adds a recipient nobody intended. Here it never leaves the tab, and there is no size limit either, because a large file costs us nothing.
questions
Where does my PDF go?
Nowhere. The pages are read, redrawn and rewritten by your own browser. The job log counts the requests the page made while working and how many of them left this site; the second number is zero, which your browser's network panel will confirm.
Why are there two ways instead of one button?
Because there is no honest single button. A PDF that is large because it holds scanned pages is large because of its pictures, and the only real reduction is to redraw them at a lower resolution — which turns any text on those pages into pixels. A PDF that is large because it holds a thousand pages of typed text cannot be shrunk that way without ruining it. Tools that offer one slider are quietly picking one of these for you.
Will my document still be searchable?
After tidying, yes — nothing about the content changes. After rebuilding as pictures, no: each page becomes an image, so the text stops being selectable, copyable and searchable. The tool reads the first pages when you drop the file in and warns you if there is text there to lose.
How much smaller will it get?
A photographed or scanned document usually drops by most of its size at 150 dpi, often to a tenth. A typed document that is already mostly text barely moves, because there was little to squeeze. Rather than promise a figure, the tool shows the real size of the result and the percentage next to it.
What if it comes out bigger?
Then you get the original back instead. That happens with documents that were already compressed hard, or with small files where the overhead outweighs the saving. Handing you a "compressed" file that grew would be useless.
Is this really free?
Yes, with no account and no size cap. Advertising pays for the hosting, which is cheap because your device does the work. Your document never reaches us, so there is nothing about it to sell.