Read this first: how this compressor works
This tool renders every page as a picture and saves it as a JPEG inside a new PDF. That is very effective for scans and photo-heavy files, where the pages already are pictures. It is the wrong choice for documents made in Word or Google Docs, because the text becomes part of an image: you can no longer select it, search it or copy it, and links and form fields stop working.
Is this the right tool for your PDF?
- Yes: phone or scanner scans, photo albums, brochures full of images, PDFs exported from a camera app. These often drop by 60 to 90 percent.
- Probably not: reports, CVs, invoices or contracts created on a computer. They are usually small already, and rasterizing them can make them bigger as well as unsearchable. Look for an oversized embedded image instead, or export again from the original app with a “smallest size” setting.
Settings that matter
DPI sets how many pixels each page gets. It runs from 72 to 150, starting at 120. JPEG quality runs from 40 to 92 percent, starting at 72. DPI has the bigger effect: going from 150 to 100 DPI cuts the pixel count by more than half.
After the download, the size panel shows the new file size next to the original. If it’s still too big, lower the DPI by one step and run it again; your original file is untouched.
How small is small enough for email?
| Where it’s going | Stated limit | Aim for |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail | 25 MB | Under 18 MB, since attachments grow by about a third when sent |
| Outlook desktop / Microsoft 365 | 20 MB including the message | Under 14 MB |
| Unknown company mail server | Often 10 MB | Under 7 MB to be safe |
If it is still too large
Split the document into two attachments with Split PDF, or remove pages the recipient doesn’t need with Delete pages. If you are building the PDF from photos, it’s more effective to shrink the photos first with the image compressor and then use JPG to PDF.
Questions
Can I get the text back after compressing?
Not from the compressed copy. Keep the original if you might need to copy text from it later. Running OCR on the compressed file is possible in other software but not perfect.
Is there a size limit?
Files up to 80 MB can be opened. Very long documents take longer because each page is rendered in turn; a progress counter shows where it is.