Compress PDF
Reduce PDF file size while keeping it readable.
Drop files here
or click to browse
Upload a PDF
About compressing PDFs
A PDF is usually large because of the images inside it, such as scans, photos, and screenshots, not because of the text. This tool recompresses those embedded images, and any selectable text in the document is left untouched.
Choose Light to stay closest to the original quality, Recommended for a balance, or Strong for the smallest file. Results vary by document: scanned and photo-heavy PDFs shrink the most, while text-only PDFs have little to gain.
How it works
- 1
Upload your file
- 2
Run the tool
- 3
Download your result
FAQ
It depends on the PDF. Scanned or photo-heavy PDFs often shrink significantly; PDFs that are mostly text see smaller gains since there are few images to recompress.
Stronger compression trades image quality for a smaller file. "Light" keeps quality closest to the original.
There's no exact-target-size mode. Try "Strong" first for the smallest result. If it's still too large, the PDF likely needs fewer or lower-resolution images to begin with.
Yes, compression only re-encodes embedded images; any selectable text in the PDF is left untouched.
This tool compresses one PDF per run. Upload and run it again for each additional file. If you first need them combined, try "merge these PDFs and compress the result" with the AI Assistant, which runs both steps on the merged file.
Yes, compression changes file size, not content. Text, form fields, and page count are unaffected.
Related tools
Guides
Need multiple steps?
Describe the whole task in plain English and let ailovespdf chain the right tools for you.