Compress PDF guide
What it is for
Compression performs lossless PDF cleanup or rebuilds pages as smaller images.
Before you start
Keep the original. Rasterising pages removes selectable text.
Step by step
- Choose a PDF.
- Select Light, Balanced or Strong.
- Leave Rasterize pages off for lossless cleanup.
- Enable rasterisation only when image reduction is acceptable.
- Choose Compress PDF and compare sizes.
What you get
A smaller PDF when compression can reduce the source; otherwise the original bytes are offered.
Good to know
Quality presets affect rasterisation. Selective image-object downsampling is not available.
Troubleshooting
- The file is not smaller: it may already be optimised.
- Text is not selectable: rasterisation was enabled.
- The browser runs out of memory: close other tabs.