Reduce the size of a PDF
Make a PDF smaller so you can email it or upload it to a form, choosing between keeping the text or prioritizing size.
What it does
Smart mode recompresses embedded images and keeps text and links. It is the recommended option for work documents, notes and invoices.
Maximum mode rasterizes every page as an image and reduces the size further, at the cost of making the text non-selectable. Use it only when size is the main problem.
How to use it
- Open Compress PDF.
- Add the document you want to shrink.
- Choose smart mode or maximum compression.
- Press “Compress PDF” and compare the size of the result.
Why ConvUp
Two strategies
Keep the text or rasterize depending on what you need.
No uploads
Compression happens in your browser, not on an external server.
Instant result
Download the compressed PDF without queues or sign-ups.
How much can a PDF shrink without looking bad
It depends on the content. A scanned PDF is full of large images and can often lose 40–80 % by lowering resolution and JPEG quality. A text PDF with vector graphics barely changes — maybe 5–15 % — because it is already compressed internally and has no images to resample.
To judge the result, compare the original and the output at 100 % zoom on a page with small text and on a page with a photo. If the text stays sharp and the photo shows no blocks, the compression is reasonable. Compressing an already compressed file only adds loss without saving size, so always keep the original.
Compressing for email
Gmail allows about 25 MB per message and Outlook usually caps at 20 MB, although the real limit is set by the recipient's server. If your PDF is close to those numbers, compress it before attaching; if it still does not fit, split it or share a link instead of flooding the inbox.
Compressing a PDF for a 2 MB upload limit
Plenty of government portals, universities and job boards reject files over 2 MB. Open the tool, pick medium quality and check the size before downloading: a text PDF usually lands between 200 and 800 KB. If it is still too big, try low quality; a scan full of photos may not drop below 2 MB without becoming unreadable.
If the form refuses anything over 2 MB and the file will not shrink, split the PDF into two parts and upload them separately, or turn the pages into PDF to JPG and rebuild them with JPG to PDF at medium quality. Check the final size before submitting: many forms verify it on send, not when you attach the file.
Frequently asked questions
Is quality lost?
Smart mode recompresses images and may reduce some detail. Text is preserved. Maximum mode turns each page into an image and reduces quality further.
How much smaller will it get?
It depends on the document. PDFs with large photos usually shrink a lot; files that are already optimized or contain only text may shrink very little.
Does it work with scanned PDFs?
Yes. In scans, maximum mode is usually the most effective, because every page is already an image.
Can I compress several PDFs at once?
The tool processes one document at a time to control memory use. Repeat the process with the next file.