Large PDFs bounce from email, get rejected by upload forms, and fill up storage. The good news: most PDFs shrink dramatically with no visible quality loss. Here's how.
Why PDFs get big
The usual culprits are high-resolution images, embedded fonts, and scanned pages stored as full images. One phone photo can add several megabytes.
Lossless vs lossy
Lossless repackaging keeps quality identical but only trims 5–20%. Lossy re-encodes images for far bigger savings (50–80%) with a small hit to image detail — text usually stays crisp.
Steps
- Open Compress PDF.
- Drag in your PDF.
- Pick "Recommended" for everyday use.
- Download and check it looks right.
Keep quality high
Always start from the original file, not an already-compressed one. For text-heavy docs you'll see big savings with no visible change; for image-heavy files, compare at 100% zoom before sending.