Why can't I select or search the text after compressing?

The tool rasterizes each page to a JPEG image and rebuilds the PDF, so text becomes pixels. It's no longer selectable, searchable, copyable, or readable by a screen reader. Keep your original if any of that matters.

My PDF didn't shrink at all, or got bigger. Why?

Text-only PDFs replace efficient vector text with images, so they often don't shrink and can even grow. When the output isn't smaller, the tool reports 0% saved instead of handing you a larger file. It works best on scanned or photo-heavy PDFs.

What do the Strong, Balanced, and Light presets actually change?

Each is a render-resolution plus JPEG-quality pair: Strong is about 72 DPI at quality 0.6, Balanced about 108 DPI at 0.72, and Light about 144 DPI at 0.82. The physical page dimensions are preserved, so an A4 page stays A4.

Is there a maximum file size?

No server-imposed limit, because everything runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded. The practical ceiling is your device's available memory when rendering the pages.

How much smaller should I expect the file to get?

Scanned and photo-heavy PDFs often drop 60 to 90 percent. Start with Balanced; if it's still too big, switch to Strong, and if pages look mushy, step up to Light.

Compress PDF

Shrink scanned/image PDFs. Pick a quality and download. In your browser.

PDFs are compressed in your browser — never uploaded. Pages are re-rendered as images to cut size, so this works best on scanned / image-heavy PDFs (text becomes non-selectable).

Choose a PDFQuality

Choose a PDF to compress.

What is Compress PDF?

Compress PDF is a free tool that reduces PDF file size right in your browser — made for scanned and image-heavy documents that are too big to email or upload. Choose Strong, Balanced, or Light quality, then download the smaller file along with a report of how much you saved.

Key features

Three quality presets: Strong (screen), Balanced, and Light (print)
Shows original vs compressed size and percent saved
Re-encodes each page as JPEG to rebuild a lighter PDF
Works best on scanned and photo-heavy PDFs

How to Reduce PDF File Size (Compress PDF)

A 30 MB scanned PDF won't clear a 10 MB email limit or a portal upload cap, and the usual culprit is images: a scanner or phone saves each page as a big, lightly-compressed picture. This tool rebuilds the PDF with those pages re-encoded far more efficiently, entirely in your browser — the file is never uploaded, so there's no server size limit on what you can compress.

Steps

Click Choose a PDF and select the file.
Pick a quality level (details below).
Press Compress & download. You get the smaller PDF plus a readout of the original → result size and the % saved.

What the three levels actually do

Under the hood the tool renders each page to a canvas and re-encodes it as a JPEG. A "level" is really a render resolution + JPEG quality pair:

Strong (screen) — renders at ~72 DPI, JPEG quality 0.6. Smallest file, softest pages. Good for read-on-a-phone copies.
Balanced (recommended) — ~108 DPI, quality 0.72. The best size/quality trade-off for most documents.
Light (print) — ~144 DPI, quality 0.82. Sharpest and safest for printing, but saves the least.

The physical page dimensions are preserved exactly, so an A4 page stays A4 — only the pixel density and compression change.

The one caveat you must understand

Because every page is turned into an image, the text stops being text. After compression it is no longer selectable, searchable, or copyable, and a screen reader can't read it. Vector logos and crisp line art become raster too. Keep your original if any of that matters.

This also explains which PDFs shrink:

Scanned or photo-heavy PDFs — big wins, often 60–90% smaller.
Text-only PDFs (a Word export, a code listing) — may barely shrink or even get larger, because you're replacing efficient vector text with images. When the result isn't smaller, the tool tells you so and reports 0% saved rather than handing you a bigger file dressed up as a saving.

Tips

Start with Balanced. If it's still too big, drop to Strong; if pages look mushy, step up to Light.
Compress last. Do any cropping, page removal, or merging first, then compress once at the end — recompressing an already-compressed PDF just adds JPEG artifacts without saving much.
Wrong tool for text PDFs. If your file is mostly selectable text and you only need to trim it, removing unused pages or images upstream will do more than this rasterizing pass.
Check the readout, not just the file. The tool shows the exact before → after byte sizes and the percentage saved, so you can confirm the trade was worth it before you send the smaller copy — if it reports 0%, the original is the better file to keep.

All processing happens inside your browser — the PDF is never sent to a server.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I select or search the text after compressing?: The tool rasterizes each page to a JPEG image and rebuilds the PDF, so text becomes pixels. It's no longer selectable, searchable, copyable, or readable by a screen reader. Keep your original if any of that matters.
My PDF didn't shrink at all, or got bigger. Why?: Text-only PDFs replace efficient vector text with images, so they often don't shrink and can even grow. When the output isn't smaller, the tool reports 0% saved instead of handing you a larger file. It works best on scanned or photo-heavy PDFs.
What do the Strong, Balanced, and Light presets actually change?: Each is a render-resolution plus JPEG-quality pair: Strong is about 72 DPI at quality 0.6, Balanced about 108 DPI at 0.72, and Light about 144 DPI at 0.82. The physical page dimensions are preserved, so an A4 page stays A4.
Is there a maximum file size?: No server-imposed limit, because everything runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded. The practical ceiling is your device's available memory when rendering the pages.
How much smaller should I expect the file to get?: Scanned and photo-heavy PDFs often drop 60 to 90 percent. Start with Balanced; if it's still too big, switch to Strong, and if pages look mushy, step up to Light.

Privacy

Recompressing embedded images and cleaning up PDF structure both happen locally; the original file is never uploaded, which also means there's no server-imposed size limit.