Compress PDF — Reduce File Size Free
Shrink your PDF without losing essential content. Choose your compression level and download the smaller file instantly, right in your browser. No sign-up required.
- 1Upload your PDF
- 2Choose a compression level (Light / Medium / Heavy)
- 3Click "Compress PDF" to download the smaller file
Compress PDF
Upload a PDF to reduce its file size.
Drag & drop files here
or click to browse from your computer
Why use pdflu for this?
Reduce your PDF file size in your browser with no upload required. pdflu re-renders each page as an optimised image, giving you a significantly smaller file you can email or share easily.
Three compression levels let you balance file size against image quality — Light keeps sharpness, Heavy maximises size reduction.
Tips for best results
- Light compression works best for PDFs with lots of sharp text and diagrams
- Heavy compression is ideal for scanned documents or PDFs you just need to email quickly
- Image-heavy PDFs compress far more than text-only PDFs — a photo-heavy PDF can shrink by 70%+
- If your PDF barely shrinks, it may already be optimised or consist mostly of plain text
- For the smallest file with readable text, try Medium first — it balances quality and size well
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Light, Medium, and Heavy compression?
All three convert pages to JPEG images. Light uses high JPEG quality at full scale (~20-40% smaller), Medium uses moderate quality at 90% scale (~40-60% smaller), and Heavy uses low quality at 75% scale (maximum reduction, some visible quality loss).
Will compressing a PDF make text harder to read?
On Light compression, text remains crisp. On Heavy compression, very small text may become slightly blurry, especially if you zoom in. For documents with fine print, stick to Light or Medium.
Why did my PDF barely shrink after compression?
If your PDF consists mainly of plain text with no images, compression will have minimal effect — text is already stored very efficiently in PDFs. The biggest gains come from image-heavy PDFs.
Can I compress a scanned PDF?
Yes. Scanned PDFs are already images, so compression works very effectively on them and can reduce file size dramatically.
How much can pdflu reduce my PDF file size?
It depends on the content. Image-heavy or scanned PDFs can shrink by 50-80%. Text-heavy PDFs may only shrink by 10-30%. The before/after size is shown after every compression.