Compress PDF

Make a PDF smaller so it fits an upload limit or an email. Free on WholeFiles, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily limit.

Runs on your device. Nothing is uploaded.Last reviewed 22 September 2026

Drop a file here

Choose a file

Nothing is uploaded. Everything happens on this device.

Before you start. Best on scanned documents, where reductions of 89 to 98 percent were measured on a 300 dpi scan. A document that is mostly text cannot be made smaller this way and is returned unchanged, text still selectable. Keep files under about 60 MB on a computer.

Step by step

Drop your file onto the page, or press Choose.
Check the options that appear under the file list.
Press the green button and save the result. Nothing is uploaded at any point.

How it works

Each page is drawn at your chosen resolution and saved again as a compressed image inside a new PDF. That is why scans shrink dramatically: a photograph of a page holds far more data than the page needs. The text in a compressed result becomes part of the image rather than selectable text. A file that would not come out at least 2 percent smaller is returned unchanged.

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Questions

Why did my file barely get smaller?

Because it was already efficient. A text-only PDF has very little waste in it. The large savings come from scans and photographs, where the original image data is far bigger than it needs to be.

Will the text still be selectable?

Not in a compressed result: each page is drawn as an image, at every level. A file that would not get at least 2 percent smaller is returned unchanged, with its text still selectable.

Which setting should I pick?

Screen for email and web forms, Balanced for most things, and High for anything that will be printed.

How do I make a PDF small enough to email?

Choose Screen, which gives the smallest file. Gmail and Outlook.com both accept attachments up to 25 MB, and Gmail sends a larger file as a Google Drive link instead. Scans shrink the most: reductions of 89 to 98 percent were measured on a 300 dpi scan.

Is my file uploaded?

No. The work happens on your own processor.

It is slow on a large file. Why?

Every page has to be drawn and re-encoded. A 200 page scan is genuinely a lot of work. A computer will be roughly three times faster than a phone.

Compress PDF

Questions

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