Compress PDF

How to use this tool

1. Drop in a PDF.
2. Pick a compression level — the DPI shown is the resolution each page is re-rendered at.
3. Click Compress PDF & Download.
4. Check the before/after size shown — if it says the file grew, the original was already efficient and this tool wasn't the right fit for it.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Don't use this on a text-heavy PDF you need to keep searchable or copyable — rasterizing turns the text into a picture of itself.
• Don't default to Maximum Compression for anything you'll print — 100 DPI looks fine on a phone screen and visibly soft on paper.

Why client-side PDF compression is limited to this approach

A "real" PDF compressor re-encodes the images already embedded inside the file and subsets its fonts, without touching the text layer at all — that requires parsing and rewriting the PDF's internal object streams at a level current browser-safe libraries don't expose. The practical alternative, and the one this tool uses, is to rasterize each page and recompress it as a JPEG — the same fundamental approach a scanner app uses. It's genuinely effective on scanned documents and photo-heavy PDFs, and a poor fit for anything that's mostly native text, which is why the tool is upfront about that trade-off rather than promising results it can't deliver on every file.

Frequently asked questions

Why does this only work well on scanned or image-heavy PDFs?

This tool compresses by re-rendering each page as a compressed image, which is the technique that actually shrinks a scan or a photo-heavy PDF significantly. A PDF that's mostly native text is already compact — rasterizing it doesn't help, and can even make it bigger, because you're trading efficient text encoding for a picture of that text.

Will the text still be selectable and searchable afterward?

No — that's the trade-off. Once a page is rasterized, its text becomes part of a flat image, so you lose the ability to select, search, or copy text from it. If you need to keep that, this isn't the right tool for that specific PDF.

Which compression level should I pick?

Balanced (150 DPI) is a good default — legible on screen with a real size reduction. Use Best Quality if the PDF will be printed or zoomed into, and Maximum Compression when file size matters more than visual fidelity, e.g. for email attachments.

What if the output ends up larger than the original?

That can happen on PDFs that were already small and text-based — the tool tells you plainly when this occurs, rather than claiming a saving that didn't happen.

Compression runs locally in your browser — the PDF is never uploaded.

How GetByteRush compares

Most free tools for this online work the same way: you upload your file to their server, wait, then download the result — which means your file (and often your email, for a "free" account) sits on someone else's infrastructure. Here's the actual difference:

("Typical online tools" reflects publicly documented behavior of common free file-processing sites as of 2026 — always check a specific competitor's own privacy policy and pricing page, since these details change.)