Compress a PDF to 2MB
A scan straight off the scanner can be over 2 MB even when it is a single page: our one-page 300 DPI test scan started at 3.2 MB. Compress can open with 2 MB already chosen, re-save the pictures inside your PDF only as far as that needs, and tell you the real size of the result. A file already under 2 MB is handed back untouched. The work stays in your browser.
Updated
What gets under 2 MB
- A color scan of a page or two, even at 300 DPI. In our tests a one-page scan of 3.2 MB and a two-page scan of 6.4 MB both came in well under 2 MB at the Recommended setting.
- A phone photo of a document: a 4.1 MB photo from a 12-megapixel camera went under 300 KB at that same setting in our tests.
- A file already below the limit. Our 1.7 MB test form was handed back exactly as it was, not re-saved.
What may still be over 2 MB
- A color scan of many pages. At the Recommended setting each of our test pages came to about 360 KB, so a scan of more than five such pages needs a lower setting; at the lowest, each was still a little over 80 KB, so a scan of 25 or more of them will not fit.
- A PDF whose size comes from the fonts built into it rather than from pictures. Compress does not rebuild fonts, so it cannot bring that size down.
- Scanned pages kept in a lossless format rather than JPEG, which Compress leaves untouched.
- A PDF behind a password, which Compress cannot read.
More on this: Why PDF files get large.
If your PDF stays over 2 MB
Trim the document to what the form asks for
A long file often holds more than the form needs — an annexure, a cover sheet, every page of a booklet. Delete PDF pages takes those out, and each scanned page removed saves its picture's full size.
Send it in parts, where the form allows
Some forms take more than one file for the same document. Split PDF divides a long scan into parts that each stay under 2 MB, which suits a form with several upload slots better than one file compressed to the floor.
Scan in gray where color is not asked for
A grayscale scan usually starts smaller than a color scan of the same pages. Where the form does not ask for a color copy, scan the long document in gray and compress that scan instead.
Forms that ask for 2 MB
Copied from each publisher's own page, with the date we read it. Only two rows: these were the 2 MB limits we could read on an official page. Check your own form as well, because limits change and one form can set different limits for different documents.
| Form | Documents | Limit | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bharathidasan University — admission to regular programmes 2026–27 | Digital copy of the community certificate, as generated online | PDF only, 2 MB | oms.bdu.ac.inread September 30, 2026 |
| IIT Gandhinagar — faculty application | Detailed curriculum vitae | A single PDF file, 2 MB limit | iitgn.ac.inread September 30, 2026 |
A different size
Aiming for a different size? Each of these has its own page.
- Compress a PDF to 20KB
- Compress a PDF to 50KB
- Compress a PDF to 100KB
- Compress a PDF to 200KB
- Compress a PDF to 300KB
- Compress a PDF to 500KB
- 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.