Compress PDF to Size
PDF ToolsGet a PDF under a stated limit — 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB — by naming the number instead of guessing.
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded
Upload forms state a limit in kilobytes and reject anything over it without saying by how much, which leaves people cycling through compression settings hoping one lands. This works the other way round: you give it the ceiling, and it finds the best-looking file that fits. It tries a lossless repack first and keeps that if it is enough — your pages untouched, text still selectable. Only when that falls short does it render the pages as images, which reaches almost any target but does cost you the text layer.
What people do next
Features
- Name the limit in KB or MB — the tool searches for the best file that fits.
- Presets for the caps portals actually use: 100 KB, 200 KB, 300 KB, 500 KB, 1 MB.
- Lossless repacking is tried first and kept whenever it is enough.
- Rasterising can be switched off entirely if the text layer must survive.
- Tells you plainly whether the result is lossless or now a document of images.
- Says so honestly when a target cannot be reached, and shows how close it got.
- Runs entirely in your browser — the document is never uploaded.
How to use the Compress PDF to Size
- 1Drop in the PDF.
- 2Enter the limit the form states, or pick one of the presets.
- 3Leave rasterising on unless the text has to stay selectable.
- 4Press Compress and wait while it searches — several attempts is normal.
- 5Check whether the result came out lossless, then download it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compress a PDF to exactly 200 KB?
Enter 200 KB as the target and let it search. There is no formula from a compression setting to a file size — it depends entirely on what the pages contain — so the only reliable method is to encode, measure and narrow in, which is what this does across several attempts. It aims for the largest file that still fits rather than the smallest possible one, so you keep as much quality as the limit allows.
Will my text still be selectable afterwards?
If the lossless repack was enough, yes — the page content is copied byte for byte and nothing changes. If the file had to be rasterised, no: each page becomes a JPEG, so text can no longer be selected, searched or copied. The result panel tells you which happened. If the text layer matters, switch rasterising off and accept that a large scan may not reach the target.
Why did my scanned document barely shrink losslessly?
Because its size is almost entirely embedded images, and lossless repacking only reorganises the file structure — it never re-encodes page content. A scan is a stack of photographs in a PDF wrapper, so the only way to make it meaningfully smaller is to re-encode those images, which is the second stage.
What if it cannot reach my target?
It tells you, and gives you the closest it managed rather than an error. A forty-page scan squeezed into 100 KB is roughly 2.5 KB a page, which is below what any legible encode needs. Splitting the document and uploading fewer pages is usually the only way past that — the PDF Split tool will do it.
Is my document uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything happens in your browser using pdf-lib and pdf.js — the file never leaves your machine, and the page works with the network disconnected once it has loaded. That matters here more than on most tools, because the documents people compress for upload forms are usually certificates and identity papers.