How does PDF compression work?

We downsample large embedded images, recompress them with optimal quality settings, and strip unused metadata, fonts, and stream filters. The text and structure stay intact.

Which compression level should I pick?

Recommended is best for documents you want to share with normal viewing quality. Strong is ideal for email attachments. Extreme produces the smallest files but may visibly soften images — use it for archival when size matters more than fidelity.

Will the compressed PDF still be searchable?

Yes. We never alter the underlying text content. Search, copy-paste, and accessibility features all keep working.

What is the maximum file size I can compress?

100 MB on the free plan. Pro lifts that to 5 GB. Browser memory and CPU determine real-world limits — most laptops handle 200 MB comfortably.

Why is the compressed file sometimes barely smaller?

If your PDF is mostly text or vector graphics, there is little to compress. Big savings come from PDFs with photos or scanned pages.

Is image compression lossy?

Yes — we use JPEG for photo content, which is lossy by nature. The Recommended preset uses a high quality factor that is visually indistinguishable in most cases.

Compress PDF Online — Free

Shrink your PDF file size by up to 90% while preserving readability. Three quality levels, instant before-and-after comparison, browser-only processing.

Processed in your browser. Files never uploaded.

·Free · No sign-up · Up to 100 MB

Drop files here

or click to browse from your computer

Free: up to 100 MB per file · Files never leave your browser

How to compress pdf

Three steps. Start to finish in under a minute.

Drop your PDF

Upload the PDF you want to shrink. We accept files up to 100 MB on the free tier.

Pick a quality level

Recommended for best balance, Strong for smaller files, Extreme for the smallest possible output.

Download the optimized file

We show the original size next to the compressed size, so you know exactly how much you saved.

Why LovedPDF

Why use LovedPDF for compress pdf

Compression in your browser

Other compressors upload your file to a server farm. We do everything locally — sensitive PDFs never leave your device.

Three presets, no guesswork

Recommended, Strong, Extreme. Each preset is tuned by us to balance file size and quality so you do not have to fiddle with knobs.

Honest results

We show before-and-after sizes and a percentage saved. If a file cannot compress further, we tell you instead of pretending.

Frequently asked questions

Merge PDF

Combine PDFs into one file

Split PDF

Split a PDF into pages or ranges

PDF to JPG

Extract PDF pages as images

Add Watermark

Add a watermark to PDF