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Compress PDF to 2 MB

Room enough for a scan. The pass that costs nothing runs first.

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 convert Compress PDF to 2 MB

  1. Drop the PDF, or choose it from your device.
  2. Press Compress — the target is already 2 MB.
  3. Download the file, now under the limit.

What happens to your file

Two megabytes is the second most common limit on upload forms, and the more forgiving one: where 1 MB forces a scan down to the edge of legibility, 2 MB usually leaves the words on a scanned page crisp.

The lossless pass runs first and costs nothing in quality. Most text documents never need the second pass at all.

When they do, the embedded images are re-encoded progressively until the document fits. Text and vector drawings are left exactly as they were.

If 2 MB cannot be reached without destroying the pages, the page says so rather than handing you something unreadable.

Questions

My form says "less than 2 MB" — is that the same as 2 MB?

This page targets under 2 MB, so it satisfies both wordings. Where a form means 2,000,000 bytes rather than 2 MiB the difference is about 5%, and the result lands below either.

Should I use 1 MB or 2 MB?

Use the number your form actually states. If it allows 2 MB, take it: every extra megabyte is detail kept in the scanned pages.

Will the pages still be readable?

At 2 MB, almost always. Scanned text is the last thing to go, and the compressor works down from the top quality rather than up from the bottom.

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.

Filmed from the extension: three upload fields on a job application, filled from one tap.

Add to Chrome — freeWhat it does

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": {
      "target_bytes": 2097152
    }
  }'

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.