Free tools › PDF
Compress PDF
Smaller file, same pages. Nothing is rasterised unless you ask for a size target.
More free conversions, where you upload. The Fylane extension does the same work inside any upload form, on its own free share every day.Add to Chrome
How to compress PDF
- Drop the PDF, or choose it from your device.
- Pick a size target if a form demands one, or leave it lossless.
- Press Compress and download the smaller file.
What happens to your file
The first pass is lossless: duplicate objects are merged, streams are recompressed and the file is linearised for fast first-page display. Text stays text — you can still select and search it.
If the lossless pass gains nothing, you get your original back, unchanged, and the page says so. A compressor that hands you a bigger file has failed at its one job.
With a size target, the images inside the document are re-encoded step by step until the file fits. Scanned pages lose some sharpness; vector text and drawings never do.
Questions
Why is my PDF so big in the first place?
Almost always the images: a phone scan embeds full-resolution photographs on every page. Fonts embedded several times over and leftover editing data come next. Structure-level compression fixes the second and third; a size target is what shrinks the first.
Will compressing reduce the quality?
Not without a target. The lossless pass changes how the file is stored, not what is on the page. With a target, only the images are re-encoded, and only as far as the target requires.
Can I compress a PDF to 100 KB?
If the document is mostly text, usually yes even losslessly. A ten-page scan cannot reach 100 KB without becoming unreadable, and the page will tell you it stopped rather than hand you mush.
Is the compressed PDF still searchable?
Yes. Text layers, bookmarks, links and form fields survive both passes.
Are my files kept?
Uploads are deleted after 24 hours and results after 7 days; nobody opens them in between. See the data safety page for the exact policy.
Do it once, not on every form
Fixing a file here means downloading it and going back to the form. The Fylane extension does this work inside the form instead, on the file you already have.
And it keeps the result. The next application that asks for a résumé, a cover letter and a photo fills all three from one tap, each one refitted to what that site accepts.
Your files stay in the browser, encrypted, on your machine. Nothing is uploaded to keep them and nothing is sent anywhere to fill a form.
Related tools
Do this in code
curl -X POST https://api.fylane.dev/v1/jobs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FYLANE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"file_id": "<file id>",
"operation": "pdf.compress",
"options": {}
}'The same operation, pdf.compress — Structure-level recompression and linearization. Upload first with the quickstart; every option is on the operations page. 500 free credits a month, then $5 per thousand.