Compress PDF to a Size - Free Online Browser Tool

Get a PDF under a size you have been given - 100 KB, 1 MB, 2 MB - by trying quality steps until it fits.

Every other compression tool hands you a slider and leaves you to guess. The limit you are actually working to is a number somebody gave you: "under 2 MB", "maximum 500 KB", "1 MB". Guessing at a slider to hit an exact number is slow, and the result is either bigger than allowed or smaller than it needed to be. This tool is given the number instead. It works through quality and resolution steps, checking the size after each one, and stops the moment the file fits - so the result is the best-looking file that meets the limit rather than the smallest one the tool can produce. If even the last step will not get there, it says so and hands you the smallest it managed, with the honest number, rather than pretending. There is a cost, and it should be understood before you use it. Getting a big document under a small limit means redrawing its pages as pictures, and a picture of text cannot be selected, searched or copied. That is the same trade every online tool at this limit makes. If the document has to stay searchable, there is a second mode that only repackages it - removing padding and duplicated objects - which sometimes helps a great deal and sometimes does nothing, and will tell you which happened. Long documents take a little while: every step redraws every page. All of it happens in this tab.

This compress pdf to a size utility runs completely inside your web browser. Your document is opened locally and processed on your own device using JavaScript and WebAssembly, so your file is never uploaded to any server. There is no signup, no watermark and no limit on how many documents you can handle.

  • 100% client-side - files never leave your device
  • Instant processing, no upload wait
  • Works on desktop, tablet and mobile
  • Free forever, no account required

Common next steps: Compress PDF, Resample Images for Print, Eco Ink / Toner Saver, Flatten PDF (Make It Permanent).

How to Use the Compress PDF to a Size Tool

Four steps, and the whole thing runs locally on your own device.

  1. Pick the limit

    The size you were told, not the size you would like. 100 KB, 1 MB and 2 MB cover most of the limits people actually hit.

  2. Decide whether the text must stay selectable

    Default no, because only redrawing pages reliably reaches a small limit. Choose yes to repackage instead and keep every glyph selectable.

  3. Create

    Each step is checked against your limit, and the run stops at the first one that fits.

  4. Read the report

    It states the size you started from, the size you ended with, whether it fitted, and whether the text is still selectable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will it definitely get under the limit?

For any limit a normal document can reach, yes. It tries six quality and resolution steps and stops at the first that fits. If a document genuinely cannot be compressed that far - a very large scan, say - it hands you the smallest it managed and says plainly that it is still over.

What do I lose?

Selectable text, in the default mode. Pages are redrawn as pictures, so the words on them cannot be searched, copied or read aloud. Everything else about the page - its size, its position in the document, its appearance - is preserved.

Can I keep the text selectable?

Switch the mode to "only repackage". That never turns a page into a picture, so the text stays selectable, but the saving depends entirely on what is making the file large. A file bloated by padding shrinks dramatically; one full of genuine content barely moves.

Why not just use the ordinary compress tool?

Because that one takes a slider and leaves you to find the setting. This one is given a number and searches for it, stopping as soon as the file fits rather than going as small as it can.

How long does a long document take?

Each step redraws every page, so a hundred-page document takes proportionally longer than a ten-page one. It runs in this tab, so a long document is a wait rather than an upload - the file never travels anywhere.