Make a PDF smaller without a random uploader
Reduce a PDF by lowering image resolution and dropping extras in a tool you already trust.
Short answer
Most of a heavy PDF is images. Export or print another copy at a lower image quality, or flatten pages you do not need, before you upload the file anywhere.
Shrink it where it already lives
If the PDF came from a scan, the pages are pictures. Opening it in the scanner’s app, or printing it again with a lower quality setting, usually does more than any “compress” button that only rewrites the same images. A phone scan saved as a high-resolution color image of a text page is a common reason a one-page form is several megabytes.
Remove blank pages and embedded attachments you do not need. Do not photograph the screen and save that photo as the document; that often gets larger and less readable. This site does not accept the file. A size limit on someone else’s form is not a reason to give an unknown server a copy of the document.
Practical steps
- Check whether the pages are photos of paper.
- Export a new PDF at a lower image quality.
- Delete blank pages.
- Confirm the text is still readable before you submit.
Common mistakes
- Uploading an identity document to a compressor you have not evaluated.
- Compressing so far that a signature or a barcode will not scan.
Frequently asked questions
- Will you add an uploader later?
- Only if it can run with strict size, type, and retention limits. Until then, this page is the solution we are willing to publish.