Compress a PDF
Make a PDF small enough to email or upload. It shrinks the photos and scans inside while the text stays sharp and selectable. No upload, no account, no daily limit.
Your PDF
Compress
Deskshed, our desktop app for Windows. It works offline in one window, with real save dialogs, and compresses whole folders of PDFs at once. Pay once: $19 for the first 500 buyers, then $29.
See DeskshedCompress PDF at a glance
- Cost
- Free, with no watermark
- Account
- None needed
- Your PDF
- Processed on your device and never uploaded. How to check
- You get
- A smaller copy of your PDF
- Limits
- Shrinks photos and scans; PDFs that are mostly text are usually small already
How to use it
Drop in the PDF
It's read by your browser, on your computer.
Pick how much to shrink it
Recommended keeps text sharp. For a scanned document, Smallest usually does better.
Download the smaller copy
You see the size before and after. If it can't get smaller, it tells you instead of giving you a bigger file.
Compress PDF: common questions
How much smaller will my PDF get?
It depends on what's inside. PDFs made from phone photos or scans often shrink by half or more. A PDF that's mostly typed text is usually small already, and there's little to take out.
Will the text still be sharp?
With Recommended, yes: only the pictures inside are made smaller, and the text, links and drawings stay as they were. Smallest turns each page into a picture, so text can no longer be selected or searched.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. It's compressed by your browser on your computer. Nothing goes to this website or anyone else, which matters for contracts, medical forms and bank statements.
Is there a limit on files or size?
No daily limit and no account. Very large PDFs, hundreds of megabytes, can be slow because your computer does the work.
Why didn't my PDF get smaller?
It may already be compressed well, or its images use a format the tool leaves alone to stay safe, such as print-ready CMYK color. If it's a scan, try Smallest.