Compress PDF
Make a PDF smaller for email and uploads by re-saving its pictures at a lower quality. Your file stays on your device the whole time.
- Free
- Unlimited
- No signup
- No watermark
- Files never leave your device
or drop it here
How small?
File name
Protection
AES-256. If you forget the password, nobody can recover the file, including us.
How to make a PDF file smaller
- Drop your PDF.
- Choose how much to shrink it: Light keeps almost the same look, Strong makes the smallest file.
- Click Compress and download. You see how much smaller it got.
Questions
How does it make the PDF smaller?
Most of a big PDF is photos and scanned pages. PDFboat opens those pictures, scales down the very large ones, and saves them again at a lower JPEG quality. It also tidies the file structure. Text, links and bookmarks are left untouched.
Which PDFs shrink well?
Scans, photo-heavy documents and exports from phones or cameras often shrink a lot. A PDF that is mostly text is already small, so there is not much to gain. If the result would not be smaller, PDFboat gives you your original file back and tells you.
Will the quality get worse?
Pictures lose some detail, text does not. Light is nearly invisible, Recommended is fine on screens and for normal printing, and Strong is best for sending by email when size matters most.
Is my file uploaded?
No. Everything happens in your browser tab, so confidential documents are safe to use.
Can I password-protect the result?
Yes. Switch on "Password-protect" and the result is encrypted with AES-256. It is off by default.
Why did a protected file stay protected?
If your PDF needs a password to open, enter it first. The compressed file is saved without the password unless you switch protection on.