Compress PDF to Size
Compress a PDF to an exact target size — free and processed entirely in your browser.
About Compress PDF to Size
Email attachment limits, application portal uploads, and government forms often cap how large a PDF can be — and getting a PDF under that limit isn't always straightforward, especially when it's full of scanned pages or embedded photos. This tool compresses your PDF toward a target size you choose.
It first tries lossless structural optimization — the same approach as our regular PDF Compressor — which works well for text-heavy documents without touching image quality. If that alone doesn't reach your target (common for image-heavy or scanned PDFs), it offers a more aggressive second pass that flattens pages into compressed images at lower quality — a real quality tradeoff, clearly disclosed, not hidden. Everything runs locally in your browser.
How to Compress a PDF to a Target Size
Step 1
Upload your PDF
Drag and drop the PDF you want to shrink.
Step 2
Pick your target size
Choose a preset — 500KB, 1MB, 5MB — or enter a custom size.
Step 3
Download your compressed PDF
Get your PDF sized to fit your target, with the actual result shown honestly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will this always hit my exact target size?
Not always — like Compress Video to Size, this is best-effort, not a guarantee. Text-heavy PDFs compress losslessly and predictably; image-heavy or scanned PDFs may need the more aggressive second pass to reach a small target.
What's the difference between the two compression passes?
The first is lossless — it optimizes the PDF's structure without touching content. If that's not enough, a second pass flattens pages into compressed images at reduced quality, reaching much smaller sizes but making those pages no longer selectable text.
Will my PDF still have selectable text after compression?
If the lossless pass reaches your target, yes. If the more aggressive pass is needed, affected pages become images — the same tradeoff as a scanned document.
Is my document uploaded anywhere?
No. Both passes happen entirely in your browser.