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    Compress a PDF for free

    Drop your PDF, pick a compression level and compare the file size before and after.

    or drop your file here

    Your files stay on your device: your browser processes them and nothing is sent to a server.

    Compression level

    With this mode, text in the new PDF can no longer be selected or copied and links stop being clickable: each page becomes an image.

    The size before and after will show here, with the download button.

    Compress a PDF for free: what the tool does

    To compress a PDF for free, drop it into the box above, pick the strong mode for a scan or a document full of photos, or the light mode for a text PDF, then click "Compress PDF": the size before and after appears at once, with the percentage saved. In strong mode, your browser redraws every page at the resolution you chose (150 dpi by default), saves it as a JPEG and places it back into a new PDF with the same page size; an 8 MB scanned file often drops below 1 MB. In light mode nothing is lost, but the saving stays small. The file is never uploaded: everything happens on your device, which matters when the document is a French tax notice, a payslip or a residence permit scan. If the result is not smaller, the tool tells you and suggests keeping the original.

    Light or strong: what each mode does

    A PDF is a container for text, fonts, vector drawings and images. Text and drawings weigh very little; images, especially scanned pages and phone photos, are what push a file to several megabytes. That is why the two modes behave so differently.

    Light mode reads the document and saves it again, grouping its internal objects into compressed streams. Nothing is lost: text stays selectable, links and form fields stay in place. Images are not touched, though, so the saving ranges from zero to a few percent, a little more on old PDFs produced by careless software.

    Strong mode renders each page in your browser at the chosen resolution, saves it as a JPEG at the chosen quality and rebuilds a PDF with one image per page, at the same dimensions. It works very well on scans and photo-heavy PDFs. The trade-off is that the document no longer contains text, only images: no copy and paste, no search and no links.

    Emailing a PDF or uploading it to a French website

    The two situations that most often force you to shrink a PDF are an email attachment rejected because the message is too large, and an upload form that refuses files above a certain size: a residence permit application on the ANEF portal, a CAF or CPAM file, a rental application on a letting platform, a job application. The exact limit is usually written next to the upload button; aim well below it to keep a margin.

    For a supporting document, set strong mode to 150 dpi and medium quality: it is usually readable and several times lighter than a raw scan. If that is not enough, lower the resolution by one step, then open the result and zoom in on small print (tax number, IBAN, dates) before sending it. An unreadable document costs more time than a slightly heavy one.

    If the document has pages you do not need (terms and conditions, blank pages, appendices), remove them first with the tool to split a PDF: it is the safest way to save space without losing sharpness. To send several documents in one go, merge them, then compress the merged file.

    Privacy and limits

    The file is not uploaded: your browser reads and transforms it on your device. The flip side is that speed depends on your machine: a hundred-page PDF in strong mode at 200 dpi can take a minute on an older phone. The progress bar shows the page being processed.

    A password-protected PDF cannot be compressed here until it is unlocked: open it in your usual reader with the password, use Print then Save as PDF to get an unprotected copy, and compress that copy. A digitally signed PDF loses its signature as soon as it is modified, whatever the tool, as the questions below explain.

    Frequently asked questions

    I compressed my PDF and it is barely smaller, is that normal?

    Yes, with the light mode. It rewrites the file structure without touching images or fonts, so on a PDF already optimised by Word or a scanner the saving is only a few kilobytes. What makes a PDF heavy is almost always its images. To shrink those, switch to the strong mode, which turns every page into a JPEG image at the resolution you choose.

    Why can't I copy text from the PDF after strong compression?

    Because each page has, in effect, been photographed: the new file holds one image per page and no text layer. You can no longer select, copy or search words, and clickable links disappear. Keep the original for your own use and send the compressed copy only where appearance is all that matters, such as a supporting document for a French administrative file.

    What resolution should I use for a document uploaded to a French government website?

    Start with 150 dpi and medium quality: an invoice, an avis d'imposition (tax notice) or a scanned ID stays sharp on screen and on paper. If the file is still above the limit shown next to the upload button, go down to 120 then 96 dpi. Below that, small print such as a tax number or an IBAN turns blurry, so always check the result before sending it.

    The compressed PDF is larger than the original, what should I do?

    Keep the original. This happens with a text-only PDF exported from a word processor: its content is already compact, and replacing it with page images makes it heavier. The tool compares both sizes and warns you when this happens. To make such a file smaller, remove the pages you do not need with the split tool instead of compressing it.

    Does compressing a digitally signed PDF break the signature?

    Yes. A digital signature seals the exact content of the file, so any rewrite, even a lossless one, makes it fail when a reader checks it. That is true with every compression tool. Send the signed file as it is, or ask the sender for a lighter version before it is signed if the file size is a problem for the platform you are using.

    Sources

    More tools: pdf