Reduce PDF file size in your browser — choose a compression level and download a smaller file.
Works best on scanned or image-heavy PDFs. Everything runs in your browser.
Compress PDF reduces the file size of a PDF by re-rendering its pages at a quality level you choose, then re-saving them with stronger image compression. The biggest savings come from documents that are really pictures in disguise: scanned contracts, photographed receipts, or exported slides where each page is stored as a high-resolution bitmap. A single color page scanned at 300 DPI can run 8-10 MB, while a born-digital, text-based PDF is often under 100 KB per page. By stepping the image data down to a lower DPI and a JPEG quality of roughly 80-85%, the tool can trim image-heavy files by 70-90% with little visible loss.
Reach for this tool when a PDF won't attach to an email, uploads too slowly to a portal, or simply takes up more storage than it should. Most consumer mailboxes cap attachments around 20-25 MB, but Base64 encoding inflates files by about a third in transit, so a 20 MB PDF can arrive as roughly 27 MB and bounce. Compressing first keeps you safely under the limit. It is also worth doing before posting documents to job applications, government forms, or shared drives where an upload size cap is common and a 50 MB scan is unwelcome.
Under the hood, the tool draws each page onto a canvas at a target resolution, then encodes the result as a compressed image and rebuilds the PDF around those pages. Lowering the quality slider shrinks the canvas DPI and tightens JPEG compression, which is exactly where most of a scanned file's weight lives. A medium or 'good' setting is the safe default for everyday documents; a low setting maximizes shrinkage when only legibility matters. Because pages are rasterized, very fine text or thin lines can soften, so preview the output before sending anything where sharpness is critical.
Everything happens in your browser. The PDF is read, re-rendered, and re-saved on your own device, so the file is never uploaded to a server and nothing is stored or logged after you close the tab. That matters for the documents people most often need to compress: tax forms, medical records, signed agreements, and ID scans. One trade-off to know: re-rendering pages converts selectable text into an image, so the compressed copy will not be searchable or copy-pasteable. Keep your original if you still need editable, selectable text, and use the compressed version for sharing or archiving.
It can, because this tool re-renders each page as an image at a chosen resolution. At a medium or 'good' quality level most text stays crisp on screen; at the lowest setting fine print and thin lines may soften. Preview the result and step the quality up one level if the text looks rough.
It depends almost entirely on what's inside. Scanned or image-heavy PDFs commonly shrink 70-90% because their bulk is high-resolution pictures. A PDF that is mostly plain digital text is already small and may barely change, since there isn't much image data to compress.
No. The compression runs entirely in your browser on your device, so the PDF never leaves your computer and nothing is stored after you close the page. That keeps sensitive documents like tax forms and ID scans private.
Usually it contains high-resolution images, scanned pages saved without compression, or fully embedded fonts. Scanners are the most common culprit: they capture each page as a detailed photo, so a color scan at 300 DPI can be several megabytes per page.
No. Because pages are rasterized into images, the compressed PDF's text becomes part of the picture and is no longer selectable, searchable, or copy-pasteable. Keep your original file if you need editable text, and use the compressed copy for sharing or storage.
By the Super Simple Digital Tools Team · Updated June 2026
Whether it's for work, study or everyday life, the Word to PDF takes the hassle out of file and image tasks. Convert Word (.docx) documents to PDF.
Just open the tool, enter your details, and read off the result instantly.
Best of all, it's completely free, runs right in your browser and needs no signup.
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Tool by the Super Simple Digital Tools Team. Reviewed by our editorial team. Free to use, no signup required.
