Compress a PDF to 1 MB

Make a PDF smaller by re-encoding the images inside it, dropping duplicated objects and clearing metadata, without sending the document anywhere.

Drop your files here

.pdf · up to 300 MB

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How to Compress PDF

1
Drop your PDF
Add one file or up to twenty at once. Each document is opened by your own browser, so nothing is uploaded and nothing waits in a queue.
2
Pick a compression level
Best quality keeps images at 300 DPI and quality 85. Balanced goes to 150 DPI and quality 65. Smallest file drops to 96 DPI and quality 45. Or pick Target size with a goal such as 500 KB, and the quality and resolution are found for you.
3
Download the smaller file
The result keeps every page, all text and all form fields. Several files come back as one ZIP archive; each name ends in -compressed, or in the target, such as -500kb or -smallest, when you compress to a size.

The 1 MB ceiling of banks, tax offices and signing services

Online banking asks for proof of income, the tax portal for a receipt, the e-signature service for the contract itself, and many of them accept no more than a megabyte per document. The files that hit that ceiling are almost always scans: in our measurements, a closely typed page scanned and saved at quality 95 came to over 2 MB. With the target set to 1 MB, every file the tool compresses also loses its document properties by default: title, author, subject, keywords and the programs that made it. A file already under 1 MB comes back as it was, properties included; Remove PDF Metadata clears those.

What a signed contract looks like at 1 MB

Stamps and handwritten signatures on a scan are part of the page picture and lose detail with it. A megabyte holds two closely typed pages at full 300 DPI. From three on, the tool lowers the resolution rather than the quality: up to six pages come back at 150 DPI, up to twelve at 96 DPI and up to twenty at 72 DPI, all at quality 45 or better. Past twenty, the quality at 72 DPI goes down towards 20, about 25 KB a page: body text still reads on screen, but small print and the fine lines of a stamp go soft. The close-up under the preview shows only the top left of the current page at 100 %, so check the signature itself in the downloaded file, zoomed in, before sending. A contract typed on a computer and signed with Sign PDF is another matter: its text is not an image, and such a file is usually under a megabyte already.

Sending a stack of documents at once

Up to twenty PDFs go in together, and each is fitted to 1 MB on its own: an annex already under the limit comes back unchanged, a twelve-page agreement is compressed until it fits. In the ZIP each name ends in -1024kb, the target in kilobytes. A document that cannot reach 1 MB at all, such as a scan of more than forty dense pages, is left out instead of arriving too large, and the warning next to the download button names it. A dozen such files, about 12 MB, still pass the 20 MB cap of Outlook.com after email encoding adds roughly a third. For a portal that takes one attachment per application, join the pieces with Merge PDF first, then shrink the result here.

Compress a contract to 1 MB on a phone

A phone's scanner app easily turns a signed contract into a PDF of several megabytes. Open this page on the phone, add the scan and wait for its measured minimum, then press Update result: the search runs inside the phone's browser, so nothing is uploaded. Save the result to Files from the Share sheet on an iPhone, or take it from Downloads on Android, where a banking app's file picker can reach it. Need a password before it leaves the phone? The row of next tools under the result hands the compressed file straight to Protect PDF, with no download in between.

The document never leaves your computer

Compression runs inside your browser tab, in a background thread on your own machine. The PDF is not uploaded, not copied to a server and not stored anywhere for us to delete later, which is why contracts, payslips and medical scans can be compressed here. Close the tab and everything still in memory is gone with it.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my PDF barely get smaller?

Because it has little or no raster content. Text, fonts and vector graphics are already compressed inside a PDF and are copied over untouched, so a file of pure text has almost nothing left to squeeze. Files built from scans or photographs shrink the most.

What is the difference between the three levels?

They set two numbers: JPEG quality and the resolution ceiling. Best quality uses quality 85 and 300 DPI, Balanced uses 65 and 150 DPI, Smallest file uses 45 and 96 DPI. Lower numbers mean smaller files and softer images; page count and text are identical in all three.

Will my scanned pages look worse?

At Balanced and Best quality, scanned text stays sharp enough to read comfortably on screen and to print. At Smallest file, photographs and colour gradients show visible artefacts and fine print softens. Try Balanced first and compare before you commit to a harsher setting.

Does my file get uploaded to a server?

No. The document is parsed, re-encoded and rebuilt by your own browser. No part of it travels over the network, and nothing of yours is stored anywhere. Compression also works with the connection switched off once the engine has loaded, which happens with the first file you add.

Is the text layer still searchable afterwards?

Yes. Text is never rasterised here, so every word stays selectable, searchable and copyable, and bookmarks, links and form fields keep working. Only the embedded images are re-encoded, which is what makes the file smaller in the first place.

Why can a password-protected PDF not be compressed?

Because its contents are encrypted, and the images cannot be read without the password. Remove the protection first with the password removal tool, compress the plain file, then apply a password again if you still need one.

How small can a vector or text-only document get?

Usually a few percent at best. Such a file is mostly font data and drawing instructions, both already packed by the format itself. When there is nothing raster to work on, the tool says so plainly instead of handing back a file of the same size.

Can I compress several PDFs at once?

Yes, up to twenty files in one go, with the same level applied to each. Every document is processed separately in your browser and the results arrive together in one ZIP archive, with each file keeping its original name plus a suffix: -compressed for a level, or the target, such as -500kb, when you compress to a size.