About Compress PDF
Compress PDF reduces file size by re-rendering each page and re-encoding it as a JPEG at a lower quality and resolution. Three presets trade sharpness against size: Low keeps the most detail, Recommended suits email attachments and upload limits, and Extreme goes as small as the tool will take it.
This works best on scans, photographs and image-heavy brochures. The trade-off is worth understanding before you use it: because pages are rasterized, text becomes part of the image and is no longer selectable or searchable. A text-only report is usually better left alone, or compressed and then run through OCR PDF to restore a text layer.
How to use Compress PDF
- Choose the PDF you want to make smaller.
- Pick a compression level — Low, Recommended, or Extreme.
- Run the compression and compare the new size against the original.
- Download the result, or try a different preset if the quality is not right.
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I select text after compressing?
Compression rasterizes each page to an image, so the text is now pixels rather than characters. Run OCR PDF on the compressed file to add a searchable text layer back.
Which preset should I use?
Start with Recommended — it usually clears typical 10 MB attachment limits while staying readable. Use Low for documents you will print, and Extreme only when the size limit matters more than sharpness.
My PDF barely got smaller. Why?
Text-only PDFs are already compact, and rasterizing them can even add bytes. This tool pays off on documents whose bulk is scanned pages or high-resolution images.