PDF Compressor
Compress PDF files by rasterizing pages to JPEG at custom resolution and quality. Reduce scanned document sizes directly in your browser without uploading.
PDF (.pdf) · one file
This tool compresses by rasterising: every page is redrawn and embedded as a JPG, so the text can no longer be selected or copied.
Tips
- This tool uses visual raster compression, converting text into non-selectable bitmap images.
- It produces the best file size reductions on scanned documents rather than native text PDFs.
- Start with 110 DPI for balanced legibility, or lower to 72 DPI if you need maximum compression.
How to use it
- 1 Select or drop your PDF document to inspect its original file size.
- 2 Choose your target rendering resolution and JPEG compression quality preset.
- 3 Click the compress button to process the pages locally in your browser.
- 4 Compare the resulting file size against the original and download the compressed PDF.
What you should know
Email gateways and seller portals frequently impose file attachment limits between 5 MB and 10 MB. High-resolution scanner outputs and image-heavy product catalogs routinely exceed these thresholds because raw scanned bitmaps are stored uncompressed or embedded at excessive resolutions like 300 DPI. Raster-based compression redraws each document page at an optimized target DPI and re-encodes the image stream using lossy JPEG compression. By adjusting the chrominance subsampling and quantization matrix, scanned document sizes typically drop by 70% to 90%, allowing oversized paperwork to meet strict portal upload restrictions without noticeable degradation on digital screens.
This tool converts each page into a compressed JPEG image inside your browser, discarding invisible vector paths, font tables, and embedded metadata. Because the output reconstructs pages strictly as raster graphics, underlying text becomes non-searchable and non-selectable. Cryptographic signatures and form field annotations are also permanently stripped during conversion, making this approach unsuitable for digitally signed legal contracts or vector-based CAD blueprints. For standard scans, receipts, and image catalogs, however, tweaking resolution and quality presets allows precise control over the final file footprint while keeping your data entirely on your local machine.
Measured output sizes
Test file: a 3-page, 2.33 MB PDF built for this test from a 4000×3000 photo and a full-page website screenshot, so every page is a full-bleed image. Run in Chrome 154 on a desktop PC; each pass took under a second.
| Resolution | JPG quality | PDF size | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 DPI | 0.85 | 959 KB | −60% |
| 150 DPI | 0.72 | 686 KB | −71% |
| 150 DPI | 0.60 | 563 KB | −76% |
| 110 DPI | 0.85 | 596 KB | −75% |
| 110 DPI | 0.72 | 428 KB | −82% |
| 110 DPI | 0.60 | 348 KB | −85% |
| 72 DPI | 0.85 | 256 KB | −89% |
| 72 DPI | 0.72 | 181 KB | −92% |
| 72 DPI | 0.60 | 146 KB | −94% |
- The defaults, 110 DPI and quality 0.72, took the 2.33 MB file to 428 KB, 82% off, which clears most mail attachment limits in one pass.
- Resolution moves the number more than quality does. At quality 0.72, dropping from 150 to 110 DPI saved a further 38%, and 110 to 72 DPI another 58%.
- Quality is the fine adjustment: at 110 DPI the whole range from 0.85 to 0.60 spans 596 KB to 348 KB, a 42% spread.
- Every page here is a photograph, which is the case this tool is built for. It redraws each page as a JPG, so a contract or a report loses selectable text; keep it for scans and image-heavy documents.
Frequently asked questions
Will the text in my PDF remain selectable and searchable?
No. Because each page is rendered onto a canvas and re-encoded as a JPEG image, vector text and font definitions are converted into raster pixels.
Can I compress digitally signed government or banking documents?
Avoid compressing signed documents with this tool because re-encoding pages strips cryptographic signatures and invalidates electronic verification.
How much file size reduction can I expect?
Scanned documents and photo catalogs typically shrink by 70% to 90%. Pure vector or text-only PDFs may see minimal reduction or even a size increase.
Guides
Articles and format references related to this tool.
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