How to compress a PDF

A big PDF bounces off email, portals, and upload forms. Here's how to shrink it without uploading it anywhere.

Steps

Add your PDF
Drag your PDF onto the box, or click Choose a file. It opens right in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Choose how much to compress
Under Compression, pick Light, best quality for documents you'll print or read closely, or Strong, smallest when you just need it under a size limit.
Click Compress PDF
Most files finish in a few seconds. Very large ones take about half a minute. Keep the tab open while it works.
Check the result
You'll see the new size and how much was saved. If the PDF was already as small as it can get, Okaysize says so and offers the original instead of a file that isn't really smaller.
Download the result
Click Download to save the smaller PDF. The original file is left exactly as it was.

Light, best quality: Cleans up the file and recompresses images gently. Text stays sharp and selectable.
Strong, smallest: Recompresses images harder. Best for scans and photo heavy PDFs where size matters more than detail.

Scanned PDFs shrink the most, because they are mostly images.
A PDF that's mostly text is often already small. If it still won't fit, split it into parts with Split PDF.
Need it searchable too? Run OCR PDF after compressing.

Will compressing a PDF make the text blurry?: No. Text is kept as text, so it stays sharp at any zoom. Only images inside the PDF are recompressed.
How do I get a PDF under a specific size, like 2 MB?: Try Strong first. For common limits there are ready made presets, like Under 2 MB, Under 1 MB, Gmail, and Outlook, listed on the Compress PDF page.

Ready? Compress PDF is free.

Shrink scans and image heavy PDFs. Works in your browser, no sign up.