Compress a PDF to 200KB
Scholarship and admission forms often refuse any document over 200 KB, and a certificate straight off a scanner is often bigger than that. Compress can open with 200 KB already chosen: it reads your PDF on your device, aims for the best quality that fits, and shows you the size the file actually reached before you download it. A document of one or two pages is what it handles best. It will not get every file there, and when it cannot, it says so.
What usually gets under 200 KB
- A single certificate, mark sheet or ID card scanned in color. In our tests, a one-page color scan made at 300 DPI got under 200 KB at a moderate quality setting rather than the lowest one.
- Two scanned pages, such as the front and back of a card or a two-page certificate. In our tests a two-page color scan got under 200 KB only at the lowest quality setting, so check the preview before you upload it.
- A photo of a document taken with a phone and saved as a PDF. In our tests a phone photo of a page got well under 100 KB, so 200 KB leaves it room.
What usually stays over 200 KB
- A scan of three or more pages. Every scanned page is a picture of its own, so each page adds to the size, and a longer scan is the most likely to stay over 200 KB even at the lowest setting.
- A PDF made from a word processor that is large because of the fonts inside it. Compress makes a PDF smaller by re-saving its pictures, and it does not rebuild fonts, so a text-only file like this barely changes.
- A scan whose pages were saved without JPEG compression, which some scanner apps do. Compress re-saves only pictures already stored as JPEG, so a scan like that can stay at the size it started.
- A black-and-white scan saved at one bit per pixel that is still over 200 KB. Such scans are often small already, but Compress leaves pages stored that way as they are, so one that is over cannot be brought down here.
- A password-protected PDF, which Compress cannot open without the password you have not been asked for.
More on this: Why PDF files get large.
If your PDF stays over 200 KB
Upload one document per file
Many forms have a separate upload for each certificate. If your PDF holds several documents, use Split PDF to separate them, and each piece will be much closer to 200 KB on its own.
Scan it again — but change how, not only how finely
When the scan is stored as JPEG and Compress's lowest setting has still missed 200 KB, a lower scanning resolution alone will not rescue it: every picture ends at the same floor either way. What changes the result is a scan cropped to the document rather than the whole scanner glass, a scan saved as JPEG rather than in a lossless format, or a grayscale scan where the form allows one.
Do not go too small
Some forms set a minimum as well as a maximum — one in the table below asks for more than 50 KB — and some want a color scan of the original. Check the size Compress reports against both limits before you upload, and keep the scan in color if the form asks for it.
Forms that ask for 200 KB
These limits are quoted from each form's own instructions, with the date we read them. Forms change their limits between application rounds, so check the form you are filling in before you rely on any of them.
| Form | Documents | Limit | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Scholarship Portal — scholarships for students with disabilities | Income certificate, Aadhaar, disability certificate, mark sheet, fee receipt, bank passbook | PDF or JPEG, each document no more than 200 KB | scholarships.gov.inread September 27, 2026 |
| Delhi Government ITI online admission 2026 | Category and sub-category certificates, and other original documents | PDF, more than 50 KB and less than 200 KB, as a color scan of the original | cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.inread September 27, 2026 |
| IGNOU admission | Educational qualification, experience certificate, category certificate | JPEG or PDF, less than 200 KB each | ignouadmission.samarth.edu.inread September 27, 2026 |
A different size
Aiming for a different size? Each of these has its own page: Compress a PDF to 100KB and Compress a PDF to 1MB. 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.