Reduce PDF size
Shrink your PDF so it fits under an email attachment cap or a document-portal size limit. You keep the same page count, the same text, and the same layout — just a smaller file.
Compress PDF
Compress PDF online for free
Drop your file. Pick how small you need it. We squeeze out the extra weight without making the text fuzzy — so the attachment finally sends.
Start here
Upload your file to start
Supported formats: PDF input, compressed PDF output. You can add multiple files in one upload.
PDFMulti-file ready
Upload PDFs to compress
Drag and drop or click to browse. Multiple PDF files supported.
Drop files anywhere inside this panel.Processed locally — we never keep it.
What happens next
Your file opens in the matching tool so you can edit, convert, or export it without uploading it a second time.
- No signup
- No watermarks
- Files deleted after 1 hour
Encrypted upload. Deleted in an hour. Never shared. Never trained on. Ever.
ISO/IEC 27001 (in progress)
GDPR compliant
TLS 1.3
Files deleted after 1 hour
No signup required
How to compress a PDF, end to end.
Four clicks from a dropzone on this page to a smaller PDF in your Downloads folder. You never leave the tab.
Drop your PDF on this page.
Drag it from your desktop or click to browse. It uploads encrypted. We can't see it.Pick how small you need it.
Light (barely smaller, best quality), Medium (50–70% smaller, still sharp), or Strong (as small as we can get it without making it ugly).Let us squeeze it.
We compress the images and strip the duplicate resources — the text stays crisp the whole time. Takes a few seconds.Download. We forget.
Your smaller PDF lands in Downloads. Our copy is deleted within the hour. Attach it to the email and hit send.
What you can actually do on this page.
Five honest moves you can finish in the browser you're already in. No Adobe, no signup, no half-features held behind a paywall.
Three sizes to pick from.
Light (barely smaller, best quality), Medium (50-70% smaller, still sharp), Strong (as small as we can get it without making it ugly).
Text stays crisp.
We compress the images, not the words. Your lease still reads clean.
Email-ready in seconds.
Aim for under 20 MB and Gmail takes it. Under 10 MB and almost every client does.
Works on huge files.
300 MB resume deck? We'll still open it. (Free goes up to 100 MB; Pro handles more.)
No "upgrade to unlock".
Free gets you the same compressor Pro gets. Free just has smaller file caps.
Why people choose Pdf Clarity
Private by default
Your PDFs are transferred over TLS and deleted within one hour. We don't look at them, and you don't need an account.
Fast and free
Editing, annotating, signing, merging and splitting are free with no signup. Your first upload opens the editor in seconds.
Works in any browser
Open the editor in Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge on Mac, Windows, Linux or Chromebook. You never install anything.
More ways to compress a PDF
Shrink PDF for email
Most email services cap attachments around 25MB. If your PDF is just over, one compression pass usually drops it under the threshold without any visible quality change.
Compress without losing quality
Smart compression trims fat — duplicate objects, bloated fonts, oversized images — without shaving the parts that matter. Your compressed PDF reads exactly the same as the original.
Compress scanned PDFs
Scan-heavy PDFs usually shrink the most because their images carry the most bytes. You can compress a 40MB scan down to a fraction of its size in one pass.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to what people ask us most about editing a PDF online for free. Tap any question and the answer expands inline.
Will compression wreck the quality?
No. We compress the images, not the text. Your lease, your resume, your tax return still read clean. Scan-heavy files shrink most and still look fine.
How small will my PDF get?
Depends on the file. Image-heavy PDFs and scans usually drop 40–80%. Already-optimized PDFs only shrink 10–20%. You'll see the exact number before you download.
Will my compressed PDF have a watermark?
Never. Not on free, not on Pro, not ever.
Is it really free? What's the catch?
There isn't one. Compressing, editing, merging, signing — all free, for as long as you need them. Pro exists for people doing this for work every day; if that's not you, you never see it.
How big a PDF can I compress?
Up to 100 MB free. If you need bigger — a 300 MB deck, a long scan — the Pro tier handles up to 500 MB.
Will my attachment fit in Gmail or Outlook?
Aim for under 20 MB and Gmail takes it. Under 10 MB and almost every client does. Strong compression usually gets you there in one pass.
What happens to my file after I'm done?
Deleted within one hour of upload. Encrypted in transit and at rest. Never read by a human, never shared, never used to train anything.
Does it work on an iPad, Chromebook, or phone?
Yes. Any browser — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge. Upload, compress, download. Same flow on every device.
Do I need to sign up, create an account, or enter an email?
No, no, and no. The button says "Drop your PDF here" — that's the whole onboarding.
Related PDF tools
Merge PDF
Combine your PDFs into one file before you compress so you only run the compressor once.
Split PDF
Extract only the pages you need when a smaller subset matters more than compressing the whole document.
Protect PDF
Lock your compressed copy with a password before you send it to the recipient who needs it.
Learn more
Ready to keep reading? You can go deeper on common tasks in the help center articles below.
- Compress a PDF after editingSee the best point in your workflow to shrink the file size once you finish your edits.
- Delete PDF pagesRemove the pages you don't need before compression to get a smaller starting file.
- Rotate PDF pagesFix orientation issues before compression so every page exports the way your reader expects.
You can also browse all PDF tools from the tools hub.