Compress PDF
Reduce PDF file size while keeping the best possible quality.
Compress PDF
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How to compress pdf
- 1
Upload your PDF.
- 2
Pick a compression level.
- 3
Download the smaller PDF.
Compress PDF files to a fraction of their size
Compress PDF shrinks bloated documents so they sail under email attachment limits and upload caps. Powered by Ghostscript — the same engine print professionals use — it intelligently downsamples images, strips redundant data and rebuilds the file structure, typically cutting 40–80% of the size while keeping text perfectly sharp. Choose Low, Recommended or High compression depending on whether quality or size matters more.
Beat the 25 MB email limit
Scanned documents and image-heavy reports easily balloon past Gmail's and Outlook's attachment limits and government-portal upload caps. Real compression solves this properly: a 30 MB scan often lands under 5 MB at the Recommended setting. And if compression can't make your particular file smaller, we tell you honestly instead of returning a bigger file.
Why use Codesala's free compress pdf tool
40–80% smaller
Typical reduction on scans and image-heavy PDFs.
Three quality levels
Low, Recommended and High compression presets.
Text stays sharp
Compression targets images; text is never blurred.
Ghostscript engine
Professional-grade processing, not a gimmick.
Honest results
Never returns a file larger than your original.
Free & unlimited
Compress as many PDFs as you need.
Popular ways people use Compress PDF
- Fit a scanned application under a portal's 2 MB limit
- Email a heavy proposal without a file-sharing link
- Shrink a portfolio for faster client downloads
- Reduce storage used by archived scans
- Speed up a website's downloadable brochures
Compress PDF — frequently asked questions
How much smaller will my PDF be?
Typically 40–80% smaller depending on images and the level you pick.
Does compression reduce quality?
“Recommended” balances size and quality; “High” favours the smallest size.
How do I compress a PDF to under 1 MB?
Upload it and pick High compression. Image-heavy files usually drop dramatically; if your file is already mostly text it may already be near its minimum size.
Why is my scanned PDF so huge?
Scanners embed each page as a large photo. Compression re-encodes those images efficiently — which is why scans see the biggest savings.
Is compressing a PDF safe for the content?
Yes — text, structure and pages are untouched; only image data is re-encoded at your chosen quality.
Compress PDF for email — which level?
Recommended is the sweet spot: large reduction with virtually no visible quality loss.
How Compress PDF handles your file
Files sent to Compress PDF are processed transiently and deleted immediately after processing — nothing is stored, logged or shared. All Codesala PDF tools are free, with no signup, no watermarks and no file limits.
Related PDF tools
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