How to compress a PDF
Choose the PDF and how much smaller it should be: much smaller for reading on screens, smaller for email and sharing, or a little smaller for printing. The tool finds the photos and scans stored as JPEG, redraws each with its longest side at no more than 1,400, 2,000 or 2,800 pixels, and saves it again at a lower quality.
Text, lines and drawings stay as they are, so they print as sharply as before; only the pictures change. A photo is replaced only when the new one is clearly smaller, and you see how much smaller the file is and a picture of its first page before you download it.
Worked example
In a 12-page PDF of phone scans 4,000 pixels tall, Smaller redraws each scan 2,000 pixels tall: a quarter of the pixels, still easy to read on a screen.
Before you rely on the result
One PDF of up to 200 MB at a time. Only pictures stored as JPEG are made smaller: a PDF of text and drawings is already compact and stays about the same size, and pictures in other formats are kept as they are. A PDF locked with a password has to be unlocked first. Nothing is uploaded.
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ToolOctopus. “Compress a PDF.” Updated 2026-10-12. https://tooloctopus.com/compress-pdf.
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