Free PDF Compressor — Reduce PDF File Size
Shrink a PDF so it fits email attachment limits and uploads. Free for 2 compressions per day; files are deleted the moment your download finishes.
Where PDF file size actually comes from
Two documents with the identical amount of text can differ in size by a factor of 100 depending on what else they contain. Vector text and simple line drawings are already tiny — a page of pure text might be a few kilobytes regardless of compression. What actually bloats a PDF is embedded raster images: a scanned page saved at a camera's native resolution, or a screenshot pasted in at full size, can dwarf everything else in the file combined. That's why compression settings here are expressed as a target image resolution (dpi) rather than a vague "quality" slider — 72 dpi (Maximum) throws away far more image detail than a screen or printed page can actually show, while 300 dpi (Light) preserves near print-shop quality at a much smaller size reduction.
Because compression works by downsampling images and optimizing the file's internal object structure — not by touching the actual text objects — a text-heavy report with no embedded images may see almost no size change no matter which level you pick, since there's nothing left to compress.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much smaller will my PDF get?
It depends on the content. Scanned documents and image-heavy PDFs often shrink 50–90%; text-only PDFs are already compact and may barely change. If compression cannot make your file smaller, you get the original back unchanged.
Which level should I choose?
Balanced is right for almost everything — documents stay crisp on screen at a fraction of the size. Use Maximum when file size matters more than image quality (email limits), and Light when the PDF will be printed.
Will compression change my text?
No. Text stays vector-perfect and selectable. Compression works by downsampling embedded images and optimizing the file's internal structure.
Why did my text-only PDF barely shrink?
Because compression here targets embedded images, and vector text is already extremely compact on its own. A document with little or no embedded imagery has little for the compressor to reduce, so a small or nonexistent size change is expected, not a failure.
Is my document kept on the server?
The file exists in temporary server storage only for the seconds the compression runs, then it is deleted automatically. Nothing is retained or shared.