Compress a PDF to 1MB
Registration and recruitment forms, like the ones listed below, often allow 1 MB for a supporting document, which leaves room for quality. Compress can open with 1 MB already chosen, and it tries the gentlest setting it expects to fit first, moving to a stronger one only when the file needs it. It runs in your browser, and it shows you the size your file actually reached before you download it.
What usually gets under 1 MB
- Scanned certificates and mark sheets of a page or two. Every document with pictures in it that we tested — a one-page scan, a two-page scan, a phone photo and a mix of text and pictures — got under 1 MB easily.
What may still stay over
- A scan of many pages, such as every semester's mark sheets merged into one file, or a multi-page agreement scanned in color. Every page is a picture of its own, so the size grows with each page, and a long enough scan will not fit in 1 MB at a quality you would want to upload.
- A text-only PDF that is over 1 MB because of the fonts it carries. Compress does not rebuild fonts, so it cannot bring a file like that down.
- Pages whose pictures are not stored as JPEG — some scanners keep them lossless — because Compress keeps those as they are and they count at their full size.
- A password-protected PDF, which Compress cannot open at all.
More on this: Why PDF files get large.
If your PDF stays over 1 MB
Send only the pages the form needs
Use Delete PDF pages to drop blank backs, cover sheets and duplicate pages before you compress. Each scanned page you remove takes its whole picture with it.
Split it, if the form takes more than one file
Where a form has a separate upload for each document, Split PDF turns one large scan into several files, each with its own 1 MB to fit in.
If the form wants one merged file, count its pages
When a form asks for all your mark sheets as a single PDF, the limit applies to the merged file, not to each scan. Merge them, delete any page the form did not ask for, then compress the merged file.
Rescan as JPEG, or in gray
Compress can only re-save pictures stored as JPEG. If your scanner app saved its pages in a lossless format, set it to JPEG and scan again, then compress the new file. Where the form accepts it, a grayscale scan also starts smaller than a color one.
Forms that ask for 1 MB
Taken from each form's published instructions on the date shown. Check the form you are filling in as well: limits change, and some documents on the same form have a different one.
| Form | Documents | Limit | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| GST registration — normal taxpayer | Proof of principal place of business, and proof of appointment of the authorized signatory | PDF or JPEG, maximum 1 MB | tutorial.gst.gov.inread September 27, 2026 |
| Fast Track Immigration — Trusted Traveller Programme | Other documents, such as an OCI card | PDF, from 10 KB to 1 MB | ftittp.mha.gov.inread September 27, 2026 |
| Department of Science and Technology — online recruitment | Mark sheets of all semesters and the certificate for each qualification, merged into one PDF | PDF, maximum 1 MB | recruitment.dst.gov.inread September 27, 2026 |
A different size
Aiming for a different size? Each of these has its own page: Compress a PDF to 200KB and Compress a PDF to 100KB. If you have no set size to hit, open Compress PDF without a target and choose from the sizes it offers for your file.
Compress runs in your browser. Your PDF is not uploaded, there is no account, and no watermark is added to the smaller copy.