Tool
Compress PDF
Reduce PDF file size (best-effort — image re-encoding and metadata cleanup).
Compress PDF Online: Shrink File Size for Email and Upload
Large PDFs — especially ones full of scanned pages or high-resolution images — often bounce off email attachment limits or take too long to upload. ConvertBrio's PDF compressor re-encodes embedded images and strips unnecessary metadata to reduce file size, making the document easier to send and store.
How PDF Compression Works
Upload your PDF and ConvertBrio re-encodes the images embedded inside it at a more efficient quality level, and removes metadata that isn't needed for the document to function. This is a best-effort process — the amount of reduction depends heavily on how much of the file's size comes from images versus text.
What Kind of PDFs Compress Best
Documents with many high-resolution scanned pages or embedded photos typically see the biggest size reduction, since images are usually the largest contributor to file size. Text-only PDFs, which are already compact, will see comparatively little change.
When to Compress vs. Split
If a PDF is too large primarily because it has too many pages rather than large images, splitting it into smaller files with ConvertBrio's Split PDF tool may be more effective than compression alone. The two tools solve different problems and can be used together.
Related Tools
Compress PDF FAQ
Common questions about compressing PDF file size.
How do I compress a PDF online?
Upload your document to ConvertBrio's Compress PDF tool. It re-encodes embedded images and removes unnecessary metadata to shrink the file, which downloads automatically once processing finishes.
Why didn't my PDF get much smaller?
Compression results depend on the file's contents — PDFs with mostly text and little embedded imagery are already compact and won't shrink as dramatically as image-heavy or scanned documents.
Is PDF compression lossy?
Compression affects embedded images the way image compression generally does, trading some quality for smaller size, while text and vector content remain sharp and unaffected.