Compress PDF
Shrink the size of a PDF by rasterizing its pages to a lower resolution. Reduce PDF file size in your browser.
Drop files here, or click to browse
Upload a single PDF. Best results on image-heavy PDFs.
Note: After compression, text in the PDF is no longer searchable.
Compress PDF reduces the file size of a PDF by rasterizing each page to a JPEG image at a resolution you choose. This is most effective on PDFs that contain large embedded images. Text-heavy PDFs may not compress as dramatically. All processing happens locally with pdf-lib and pdfjs-dist.
About Compress PDF
Shrinking oversized PDF files
PDFs have a habit of growing large. Image-heavy reports, scanned documents, and embedded fonts can balloon a 200 KB file into 20 MB — too big for email attachments, too slow for website downloads, and too costly for cloud storage.
Our Compress PDF tool reduces PDF file size by rasterizing each page to a JPEG image at a quality level you choose, then reassembling those images into a new PDF. It uses pdfjs-dist (Mozilla's PDF.js) and pdf-lib together, all in your browser.
Three quality levels explained
- Low (smallest file): renders pages at 1.5× scale with JPEG quality 0.45. Best for screen-only viewing. Text may look slightly soft.
- Medium (recommended): 1.5× scale, JPEG quality 0.65. Good balance of size and readability. Most documents look fine.
- High (best quality): 1.5× scale, JPEG quality 0.82. Largest output but clearest text. Use for archival copies.
Typical compression ratios: 60-85% smaller for image-heavy PDFs, 30-50% for text-heavy PDFs.
What you trade for smaller size
After compression, text is no longer searchable or selectable — it's part of the rasterized image. Use this tool for archival copies or sharing, not for documents you need to search inside. Keep your original PDF for that.
When to use other tools instead
- For merging multiple PDFs into one (no quality loss)
- For splitting a PDF into smaller pieces (no quality loss)
- For extracting text from a PDF (preserves searchability)
Compress PDF is best when you need to shrink a single PDF for sharing or storage.
How to use Compress PDF
- Upload a PDF file using drag-and-drop or the file picker.
- Choose a quality level (Low, Medium, or High).
- Click Compress PDF and wait for processing.
- Compare the original and compressed sizes, then download.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related tools & guides
Keep exploring Convaduit with these related resources.
Merge PDF
Combine multiple PDF files into a single document in seconds. Drag to reorder, all in your browser, no upload required.
Split PDF
Extract pages or split a PDF into multiple files by page ranges. 100% client-side, your PDF never leaves your browser.
Image to PDF
Convert JPG, PNG, and WebP images into a single PDF document. Reorder, set page size, and download instantly.
The Complete Guide to Image Compression for the Web
Everything you need to know about compressing images for the web — formats, quality settings, responsive images, and the tools that actually work.
October 10, 2025 · 6 min read