Make a PDF smaller by shrinking the photos inside it. The text and links stay. For scans, you can also turn pages into images. Everything runs in your browser.
or click to browse files
compressed_ plus your original name. For example, report.pdf becomes compressed_report.pdf. Open it and look at it before you send it.Most of the size of a big PDF comes from the pictures inside it: photos, charts saved as images, and scanned pages. There are two ways to make those smaller, and this tool offers both.
Your browser opens the PDF with pdf-lib and looks at every image inside it. For each image, the tool checks how large it is drawn on the page. If the image has more pixels than the level needs for that size, it is scaled down. Then it is saved again as a JPEG at the level's quality. The new image is used only if it is at least 5% smaller than the old one.
Everything else is copied as it is: the text, the fonts, the page layout, links, bookmarks and form fields. So the text stays sharp, and you can still select, copy and search it.
This mode changes JPEG photos and zip-compressed (Flate) images that are in colour (RGB) or grayscale. Transparent images keep their transparency. Grayscale photos are saved as colour JPEGs, because browsers can only write colour JPEGs. They look the same. Some images are left exactly as they were:
After compressing, the tool tells you how many images were made smaller and how many were left as they were.
Your browser opens the PDF with pdf.js, the same PDF reader that Firefox uses. It draws each page onto a hidden canvas with a white background, at the resolution of the level you picked. It saves that canvas as a JPEG image. Then pdf-lib builds a new PDF with one image per page. Each page keeps its original size, so an A4 page stays A4.
The new PDF looks like the old one, but every page is now a photo of the page. The text can no longer be selected or searched, and links and form fields are gone. A PDF made from Word or a web page stores its text as small drawing instructions plus a font, not as pixels. Turning that text into an image can make the file bigger, not smaller.
Each level sets two things: how many pixels are used for each inch, and the JPEG quality. The levels work the same way in both modes. In Keep text mode they apply only to the photos, so the text stays sharp at every level. In Turn pages into images mode they apply to the whole page. The names match those in some desktop PDF programs, but the numbers here are lower.
| Level | Pixels per inch | JPEG quality | Keep text: a photo 4 inches (10 cm) wide | Pages into images: one A4 page | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 54 | 22% | 216 px | 446 × 631 | Getting under a strict size limit. Photos and scans look rough when zoomed in. |
| eBook (default) | 72 | 55% | 288 px | 595 × 842 | Email and reading on a screen at normal zoom. |
| Printer | 108 | 78% | 432 px | 893 × 1263 | Photos, scans, small print and tables that must stay clear when zoomed in. Home or office printing. |
| Prepress | 144 | 92% | 576 px | 1191 × 1684 | Keeping as much detail as this tool can. Often saves little. |
Even Prepress is well below the 300 pixels per inch that print shops usually ask for. If the PDF is going to a professional printer, send the original.
Keep text mode keeps the text (you can select, copy and search it, and screen readers can read it), links, bookmarks, form fields and the page layout. You lose:
Turn pages into images mode loses much more, at every level, Prepress included:
If the new file is not smaller than the original, the tool does not give you a bigger file. It shows a message, and the download button gives you your original file unchanged. This usually means the PDF is mostly typed text. Other options:
Very long PDFs, PDFs with very large pages and PDFs with very large photos use a lot of memory, most of all on a phone. Keep text mode works on one image at a time to keep memory low. If the tab still slows down or crashes, split the file first and compress each part.
Start with Keep text, which is selected when the page opens. It shrinks only the photos, so the text stays selectable and links and form fields keep working. Use Turn pages into images when Keep text saves too little, for example when the PDF uses CMYK print images, and you do not need to select or search the text.
In Keep text mode, yes. The text, fonts and page layout are copied as they are, and only the images change. In Turn pages into images mode, no. Every page becomes a JPEG picture, so the words are pixels, not text. This is true at every level, Prepress included.
Your PDF is probably mostly typed text. Text in a PDF is already stored in a very compact way, so Keep text mode finds no large photos to shrink, and turning text pages into pictures usually makes the file bigger. When the new file is not smaller, the tool tells you, and the download button gives you your original file unchanged.
Start with eBook, which is selected by default. It uses 72 pixels per inch and 55% JPEG quality. In Keep text mode these numbers apply only to the photos, and the text stays sharp. Use Screen to get under a strict size limit. Use Printer for photos or scans that must stay clear when zoomed in. Prepress keeps the most detail but saves the least.
In Keep text mode, links, bookmarks and form fields stay and still work. In Turn pages into images mode they are all lost, because each page is only a picture. In both modes a digital signature becomes invalid, because any change to a signed file breaks the signature. Do not compress documents that must stay signed.
Keep text mode cannot change any protected (encrypted) PDF, even one that opens without a password. It stops with a message. Turn pages into images works for PDFs that open without a password but block printing or copying. If the PDF asks for a password when you open it, remove the password first in the program you normally use.
No. The page loads two open-source libraries, pdf.js and pdf-lib, and does all the work inside your browser. Your file is not sent to FreeToolPoint or anyone else. When you close or refresh the page, the file is gone from the tool.