PDF Compression: Complete Guide
PDF files can grow large due to embedded high-resolution images, fonts, and metadata. Our free online PDF compressor uses WebAssembly to process your file directly in the browser — no uploads, no privacy risks.
By Quality vs By Size
The By Quality mode scans all embedded image streams in the PDF and re-encodes them at the quality percentage you choose. Text, fonts, hyperlinks, and vector graphics remain fully intact. This is the recommended mode for most documents.
The By Size mode renders every page of the PDF to a canvas image and recompresses each image to fit within your target KB or MB budget. This achieves more aggressive compression but converts the entire document to a flat image — text will not be selectable.
Tips for Best Results
- For documents with lots of text and few images, By Quality at 60–70% gives the best results.
- For scanned documents (where pages are already images), By Size is more effective.
- If your PDF is already small, compression gains may be minimal.