FileFlipLocal

Compress PDF

Shrink a PDF by re-rendering each page as a compressed JPG image. Works best on scans and image heavy documents. Text becomes part of the image, so it is no longer selectable or searchable.

Lower resolution means a smaller file.

65

This tool does not upload your files

The conversion runs entirely in your browser. Your files stay on your device from start to finish, there is no server copy, and nothing is stored once you leave the page. That is true for every tool on FileFlip.

01About this tool

About this tool

PDFs made from scans or phone photographs are often far bigger than any mail system will accept. This tool shrinks them by re-rendering each page as a compressed image, which is very effective on scanned documents. It is a real trade, and the section below is honest about what you give up. Your document is never uploaded.

02Step by step

How to compress pdf

  1. 01

    Add one PDF

    Drop in the document that is too large.

  2. 02

    Choose the resolution

    This is the biggest lever on the final size. 108 dpi is a good starting point for something that will be read on screen. Use 144 dpi if it needs to look good when printed.

  3. 03

    Set the image quality

    Around 65 keeps scanned text readable while cutting the size hard. Lower it further if the file still needs to be smaller.

  4. 04

    Compress and download

    Compare the size of the result against the original before you send it, and try a lower setting if you need more.

03Good to know

What to watch for

Read this before you use it

Each page is redrawn as a JPG image and placed into a new document at the original page size. That means the text stops being text: it can no longer be selected, searched or copied, and screen readers cannot read it. For a scanned document that was already just pictures of paper, you lose nothing. For a PDF exported from a word processor, you lose a great deal, and the result may even be larger than the original.

When this works well

Scans, photographed paperwork, and documents full of large photographs. These are already images, so converting them to smaller images is pure gain and reductions of eighty percent or more are common.

When to use something else

If the PDF came out of Word, Google Docs, LaTeX or a design tool, export it again from the original application at a lower image quality instead. That keeps the text layer intact and usually gives a better result than rasterising.

04Questions

Frequently asked

Is my document uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs inside your browser using code that was downloaded to your device. Your file is never sent to us or to anyone else, so there is no copy to store or leak.
Why did it refuse and say the file is already smaller?
If the compressed version would come out larger than the original, the tool stops rather than handing you a worse file. That normally means the PDF is mostly text rather than scans. Try a lower resolution, or compress it in the application that produced it.
Will the text still be searchable?
No. This is the main trade. If you need searchable text in a smaller file, compress the images inside the document using the application that created it, or run the result through optical character recognition elsewhere.
How small will my file get?
A typical scanned document drops by somewhere between half and ninety percent, depending on how it was scanned and the settings you choose. Resolution matters more than quality, so lower that first.

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