Compress PDF

Shrink the photos inside a PDF to make the file smaller and lighter.

1. Choose a PDF to compress

Choose one PDF. As soon as it opens, it’s compressed at four levels.

Drag and drop a PDF here

or

2. Choose a compression level

The size after compression is shown for each level.

Choose a compression level

3. Download

Choose a PDF to save it from here.

Everything happens on this device. Your PDF is never uploaded.

Text and shapes stay as they are; only the photos inside are shrunk. PDFs with only text won’t get much smaller.

Found it useful? We'd love a share

Something not working, or an idea to make it better?

Report a problemSuggest an improvement

How to use

  1. 1. Choose a PDF

    Tap “Choose PDF” and pick the PDF you want to compress.

  2. 2. Choose a compression level

    As soon as it opens, the PDF is compressed at four levels, and the size of each appears under “Choose a compression level” below. Tap the level you want, such as “Standard” or “Small”.

  3. 3. Compare the result

    Slide your finger along the line on the page above. Left of the line is the original PDF, right is the PDF compressed at the level you chose. Use the arrows below to see other pages.

  4. 4. Download

    Tap “Download PDF”.

Great for

  • Making a PDF small enough to email

    When a PDF is too big to send because of a limit like “10MB max”, shrink its photos so it fits.

    People who email documents

  • Fitting an “under X MB” upload limit

    See the size at each level and pick one that fits the limit of the submission form.

    People sending applications

  • Scanned documents that are too heavy

    PDFs from a scanner or phone tend to be large because of the images. Make them lighter while keeping them readable.

    People who scan paper documents

  • Making stored PDFs lighter

    Shrink catalogs and handouts to free up space on your phone or in the cloud.

    People who keep lots of documents

Good to know before you start

  • PDFs made of text only are already small, so they barely get smaller.
  • With “Smallest (pages as images)”, text can’t be selected or searched, and links and form fields stop working. Keep the original PDF too.
  • PDFs with a password or editing restrictions can’t be compressed.

How a PDF gets smaller

The main reason a PDF is large is the photos inside it. Scans and phone photos are often far more detailed than needed for reading on screen, and shrinking them to fit the page barely changes how they look. papatto keeps text, lines and tables as they are, and only shrinks photos to a set resolution (dpi) and recompresses them as JPEG.

It also removes old data left over from repeated edits and data that nothing uses. Photos that wouldn’t get smaller are left as they are. “Smallest” works differently: it turns each whole page into a single image. PDFs with many photos get very small, but the text can no longer be used as text.

Compression levels compared
Photo resolutionTextGood for
High qualityUp to 200 dpiKept as isPrinting
StandardUp to 144 dpiKept as isReading on screen, email
SmallUp to 96 dpiKept as isUploads with strict size limits
Smallest (pages as images)Whole page at 110 dpiBecomes an imageWhen size matters most

FAQ

Answers to common questions before you start.

Is my PDF sent anywhere?

No. Compression happens inside the browser on your device, and your PDF is never uploaded to a server. It’s safe to use for confidential or personal documents.

Which level should I choose?

If you’re not sure, choose “Standard”. It keeps good quality for reading on screen, and PDFs with many photos often shrink to a fraction of their size. For printing, choose “High quality”. If the file is still over the limit, try “Small” or “Smallest”.

Will the text get blurry?

With “High quality”, “Standard” and “Small”, text, lines and tables stay as they are, so they don’t get blurry. Only the photos inside are shrunk. With “Smallest (pages as images)”, the whole page, text included, becomes an image, so it looks a little blurry when zoomed in.

It says “Not smaller”.

The PDF’s photos are already small, or it has no photos. PDFs with only text are already light and sometimes can’t get any smaller. For a PDF of scanned pages, “Smallest” may make it smaller.

How much smaller will it get?

It depends a lot on what’s in the PDF. PDFs with many phone photos or scans often shrink to about 1/3 to 1/10 of their size with “Standard”. The size at all four levels appears as soon as the PDF opens, so you can check before saving.

Can I check the result before saving?

Yes. When you open a PDF, a line appears on the page. Move it left and right to compare the original PDF with the PDF compressed at the level you chose. Use the arrows to see other pages.

Are links, bookmarks and form fields kept?

Yes with “High quality”, “Standard” and “Small”. With “Smallest (pages as images)”, pages become images, so links, bookmarks and form fields stop working.

Can I compress a password-protected PDF?

No. PDFs with a password or editing or printing restrictions can’t be rewritten. Remove the restrictions first, for example in the app that made the PDF, then choose it.

Can I compress several PDFs at once?

You can compress one at a time. After saving, use “Choose another PDF” to pick the next one. If you want to combine several PDFs into one, merging them first and then compressing saves time.

Is it free?

Yes. No usage limits, no sign-up and no ads.

More tools