Compress a PDF to 200 KB

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

Choose files

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.

Who asks for exactly 200 KB

Scholarship and admission forms, job applications with a capped CV field, tenancy and benefit claims, government services that want proof of address: 200 KB is a common limit on portals that take one document per field and were built for typed pages, not scans. It is double the 100 KB of the strictest forms and still tight, because a single page scanned at 300 DPI is 2480 × 3508 pixels. This page opens the compressor with 200 KB already selected: add the file and press Update result.

What realistically fits into 200 KB

Typed pages are cheap: the text of a page costs a few kilobytes and the fonts are stored once per file, so a document exported from Word often comes back untouched, marked as already below the target. Scans are where the limit bites. In our tests with the JPEG encoder this tool runs, a page of dense typing scanned at 300 DPI still weighed about 220 KB even at quality 20, so not one such page fits at full resolution. A short letter costs 90 to 170 KB a page and fits; an ID card on a white page needs under 50 KB. For dense pages the search lowers the resolution before it takes the quality below 45: one page came back at 150 DPI, two at 96 DPI, three at 72 DPI. From four on, the quality at 72 DPI goes down towards 20, about 25 KB a page, and that holds roughly seven pages, readable on screen but soft when zoomed in.

When the minimum is above 200 KB

As soon as you add a file, the page builds its smallest possible version, with every image brought down to 72 DPI at quality 20, and shows that size under the targets. Text, fonts and vector drawings cannot shrink any further, so if this minimum is above 200 KB, the 200 KB button is greyed out and the target moves up to the nearest size the file can reach. A portal that insists on 200 KB will still refuse that result. The fix is fewer pages: Extract pages keeps only the ones the form asks for, and Split PDF makes two attachments where the portal has a second field.

From a phone scan to the upload form

A phone scan is a photograph of every page, and saved at high quality it is nowhere near 200 KB: in our tests a page of dense typing came to about 700 KB at quality 85. Open this page in the phone's browser, add the scan from Files or Downloads, wait for the measured minimum and press Update result; each attempt takes a moment on a phone. On an iPhone the download button opens the Share sheet: choose Save to Files and the portal's file picker will find the copy there. Android saves it straight to Downloads. Either way the file keeps its name with -200kb added. If a long colour scan runs an older phone out of memory, the page says so and offers Split PDF.

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.