How to Compress a PDF
- Upload: Drag and drop your PDF or click the file picker to select a file.
- Choose compression level: Select Low (High Quality), Medium (Recommended), High (Smaller), or Ultra (Maximum).
- Compress & download: Click Compress, then download your optimized PDF. The file auto-downloads when compression completes.
Compression Levels Explained
Low Compression — High Quality /printer
Maximum image fidelity. Best for print-ready documents, professional layouts, and archival purposes. Produces the largest compressed file but maintains near-original quality.
Medium Compression — Recommended /ebook
The best balance between file size and visual quality. Ideal for most use cases including email attachments, web sharing, and everyday documents.
High Compression — Smaller /screen + aggressive
Uses the /screen preset plus forced image downsampling to 100 DPI, duplicate image detection, and JPEG recompression. Significantly smaller than Medium with moderate quality trade-offs.
Ultra Compression — Maximum /screen + ultra aggressive + qpdf
The most aggressive compression available. Forces images to 72 DPI, strips metadata and annotations, removes unused objects, and runs qpdf post-processing for additional stream optimization. Produces the smallest possible file size with the most quality trade-offs.
Why Use Our PDF Compressor?
- Ghostscript + qpdf: Industry-standard PDF compression engine combined with qpdf stream optimization.
- Four Quality Levels: From high-fidelity print quality to ultra-aggressive maximum compression.
- Secure: Files are deleted immediately after compression. We never store your documents.
- Fast: Server-side compression is faster and more reliable than browser-based alternatives.
- Free: No registration, no file limits, no hidden costs.
