Compress a PDF to a Target Size
Compress a PDF to an exact size limit — 100KB, 200KB, 500KB or any cap a form demands. The quality is found for you, in your browser, no upload.
Runs in your browserNothing uploadedFree · no signup
Drop a PDF here, or click to chooseChoose a PDF and name your size limit — the quality is found for you.
Frequently asked questions
- How does it hit an exact KB target?
- It renders your pages once, then searches for the highest JPEG quality whose rebuilt PDF still fits your limit, re-encoding a few times and keeping the best result. If even the lowest quality is too big, it also lowers the page resolution and searches again, so the cap is met without you guessing at a quality slider. The document's own structure is measured from a real build rather than estimated, so the final file genuinely fits rather than landing just over.
- Is 1 KB counted as 1024 bytes?
- Yes. A 100 KB target means 102,400 bytes, which is how Windows and most upload forms count, and the exact byte figure is shown next to the result. A few strict portals treat 100 KB as 100,000 bytes instead, so if one rejects a file that looks like it fits, set the target slightly lower and compress again.
- Will my PDF still have selectable text?
- No. Reaching a fixed byte target means re-rendering each page as a compressed image, so text becomes part of the picture and can no longer be selected or searched. That is the trade every size-target compressor makes, and it is why the tool works best on scans, certificates and image-heavy documents. If your file is already under the limit it is handed back untouched, with its text intact.
- Why can't it reach a very small target?
- Two reasons. Every PDF spends some bytes on its own structure — roughly a third of a kilobyte per page — so a 50-page document cannot fit in 10 KB no matter what the pages look like. And past a point there are simply too many pixels sharing too few bytes to stay readable. When the target is unreachable the tool says so and still offers the smallest result it managed, rather than pretending it succeeded.
- Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
- No. The file is read from your own device, rendered and re-encoded by your browser, and the download comes from memory. Nothing is sent anywhere — which matters for the ID documents and certificates these size limits are usually attached to.