Compress PDF files down to a size that will actually send
PDFCheetah's free Compress PDF tool makes a PDF smaller in your browser, mostly by re-saving its pictures, so the text stays selectable — and your file never leaves your device.
Updated
Choose a PDF file to make smaller
One file · up to 80 MB · PDF bytes are checked on this device
Processed on this device
Selecting and processing files stays in this browser.
Checking offline readiness
Offline availability is confirmed after this tool loads.
Why there is no daily limit, and no upload
How to compress a PDF
- Open the PDF you want to make smaller.
- PDFCheetah checks what is inside it on this device and offers the sizes it can reach.
- Choose the size you want, then select Make this PDF smaller.
- Select Download to save the smaller PDF.
Where the saving comes from
PDFCheetah finds the pictures inside your PDF, works out how large each one is actually drawn on the page, and re-saves the oversized ones at a resolution that suits how they are used. Text stays selectable and searchable, vector artwork stays sharp at any zoom, ordinary links within the PDF or to websites keep working, and form fields keep their values. What could run or reach outside the PDF is taken out — scripts, the actions behind Submit buttons, links into other files, embedded video, sound and 3D, and attached files. No option turns a page into a picture. The work happens on this device.
What is left alone
Pictures already the right size for the page keep every pixel they have, but they are still re-saved at the quality you chose — and kept only if that comes out smaller. Left exactly as they were: anything not stored as a JPEG, plus JPEG 2000 and JBIG2 images, spot colors, black-and-white scans, and pictures that carry transparency. CMYK pictures are re-saved as screen colors, so check a file headed for a printing press. A PDF protected with a password is refused rather than processed, because opening it would need the password you have not been asked for.
When a form sets a size limit
If a site refuses files over 100 KB, 200 KB or another size, choose that limit before you start. PDFCheetah keeps the best picture quality that fits, lowering it one step at a time only as far as the limit needs, and checks the real size of the finished file before it says the file fits. A PDF whose size is mostly text and fonts, or a long scan, may not get under a small limit at all; you are told so, and nothing is changed. When the pictures had to be lowered to fit, the pages on screen show the smaller copy so you can check it before you upload it. Each limit here has a page of its own that says which documents can get there and names some forms that ask for it: compress a PDF to 20KB, compress a PDF to 50KB, compress a PDF to 100KB, compress a PDF to 150KB, compress a PDF to 200KB, compress a PDF to 300KB, compress a PDF to 400KB, compress a PDF to 500KB, compress a PDF to 1MB, compress a PDF to 2MB, compress a PDF to 5MB and compress a PDF to 10MB.
Why some PDFs barely get smaller
A text-heavy PDF carrying large embedded fonts will barely change. Shrinking those means rebuilding the fonts, and PDFCheetah does not do that yet: done badly, it destroys a document’s searchable text. When the smaller copy is not actually smaller, PDFCheetah keeps your original and tells you so instead of handing you a bigger file. If you are trying to get under an email attachment limit, that limit belongs to the mail servers at both ends rather than to PDFCheetah, so find the number you have to beat and compare the estimated sizes here against it.
Common questions
- Will compressing lose quality?
- You choose. Best quality changes no picture at all. The other options re-save the photographs inside the PDF at a lower resolution, which is where the saving comes from, and PDFCheetah shows the size each one reaches before you run it.
- Why is my file barely smaller?
- Because the saving comes from the pictures inside a PDF, and yours has little to gain. A text-heavy or form-heavy file barely changes; a picture-heavy one shrinks most. Where nothing can be saved, your original is kept.
- Will my text still be selectable?
- Yes. Text and vector artwork are never rebuilt — only pictures are re-saved, and no option turns a page into a picture.
- Is my file uploaded?
- No. Your PDF is read and made smaller in your browser, and the result is saved on this device. Your PDF is never sent anywhere.
- Is this PDF compressor free?
- Yes. Compress PDF is a free PDF compressor and PDF size reducer. Choose how far to reduce the PDF size, or give it a size limit such as 200 KB and it tells you before the run whether that size can be reached. The smaller copy is made on this device, with no account and no daily limit.
- Is anything removed besides picture detail?
- Yes: what could run or reach outside the PDF. JavaScript, actions that run when the file opens or when a form field is used, the actions behind Submit buttons, links into other files, embedded video, sound and 3D, and attached files are taken out of the smaller copy, as most tools here take them out. Text, bookmarks, ordinary links within the PDF or to websites, and form fields with their values are kept. A dynamic (XFA) form is kept whole, its own scripts included, because removing them would empty the form. If taking these out is all that would make the file smaller, you get your original back unchanged.
- How do I open a PDF from another app on my phone?
- On Android, install PDFCheetah from Chrome's menu, then share the PDF from the app it is in and choose PDFCheetah. On an iPhone or iPad, share the PDF to Save to Files, then choose it from Files on this page. The PDF is opened on your device. One exception on Android: if PDFCheetah's data on your phone has been cleared, Android sends the shared PDF to our server, which refuses it without reading it or keeping a copy, and the page tells you it happened.