PVPDF Vision
Se connecterCommencer gratuitement
Compress PDF

Compress a PDF

Reduce the size of your PDF while keeping it sharp and readable — perfect for email and web upload.

Drop your PDF here, or click to browse
PDF · up to 15 MB

Compress a PDF online, free

PDF Vision compresses a PDF on its servers by downsampling and re-encoding the images inside it, subsetting and recompressing the fonts, dropping page thumbnails, and finishing with a structural rewrite that linearises the file for faster web opening when that actually makes it smaller. Text is never rasterised, so the compressed PDF stays selectable and searchable. Each upload is run through up to four strategies and the best output is kept, with the search stopping early as soon as one pass already saves more than 30%. The most aggressive of those passes converts the document to greyscale and can stop embedding fonts, so colour is not guaranteed to survive. You see the original size, the compressed size and the percentage saved before you download anything. Files up to 15 MB with no account at all — a free PDF Vision account raises that to 100 MB, and paid plans go up to 300 MB.

How to compress a PDF

  1. Add your PDF

    Drop a PDF of up to 15 MB onto the compressor, or click to browse. No account, no sign-in.

  2. Run the compression

    Click Compress. The file is run through up to four strategies and the best output is kept; the search stops early as soon as one pass already saves more than 30%.

  3. Compare sizes, then download

    Compare the original and compressed sizes with the percentage saved, download the smaller file, and open it once to confirm colour and typefaces still look the way you need.

Why use it

Text stays text

Nothing is rasterised. Headings and body text remain selectable and searchable in the compressed file. Compression works on the images, the fonts and the file structure instead — images are downsampled and re-encoded, fonts are subsetted and recompressed, and that is where the weight actually sits.

Proof before download

Every run reports the original size, the compressed size and the exact percentage saved, so you can check the file against a mail attachment limit before you send it.

Four strategies, best result kept

One upload can be run through up to four strategies — the compress-pdf pipeline, two Ghostscript profiles and a structural rewrite — and the best output is kept. The search stops early as soon as a pass already saves more than 30%, so an easy file is not made to sit through the slow passes.

Frequently asked questions

Is the PDF compressor free?
Yes, and you do not need an account. Compress a PDF of up to 15 MB and download the result — one free compression per day. Beyond that, or for files up to 100 MB, a free account keeps you going.
How much smaller will my PDF get?
It depends entirely on what is inside. Image-heavy scans, photo brochures and slide exports often lose half their weight or more, while a lean text-only report may shrink only slightly because there is little to reclaim.
Does compression make the text blurry?
Text is never turned into an image, so it stays selectable, searchable and sharp. What does change: fonts are subsetted and recompressed, and embedded images are downsampled and re-encoded. Be aware that the most aggressive pass also converts the document to greyscale and can stop embedding fonts, which lets the reader substitute a lookalike. If exact colour or an unusual typeface matters, open the downloaded file before you send it on.
What does the compressor change in my PDF?
Embedded images are downsampled and re-encoded, fonts are subsetted and recompressed, page thumbnails are dropped, and the file can be rewritten and linearised. No page is deleted: the compressed file has exactly the same pages as the original.
My PDF barely shrank. What else can I do?
Files that are mostly text, or exports already optimised by their authoring tool, are close to their floor. In that case splitting the document into parts, or removing the heaviest image pages, saves far more than compressing again.
Does it modify my original file?
No. Your original stays exactly as it is on your device. The PDF is uploaded, processed on our servers and returned as a separate file whose name ends in _compressed, which you download yourself once you have seen the numbers.

Related tools