Guides4 min read
Is Smallpdf Safe? What Its Policies Say
Smallpdf is safe for ordinary PDFs. See what its privacy notice, terms and blog say about deletion, servers and access, and where those pages disagree.
Compress PDF
Shrink your PDF's file size by recompressing embedded photos. Free, instant, nothing leaves your device.
Drop your PDF here
or click to browse — PDF files only
Everything you need to shrink a PDF
100% private — nothing uploaded
Compression happens locally in your browser using pdf-lib. Nothing is sent to a server.
Three quality levels
Pick the tradeoff between file size and image quality that fits your needs.
Targets the real bloat source
Recompresses embedded photos — the actual cause of most oversized PDFs — instead of guessing.
Instant processing
No waiting for uploads — compression runs in seconds, even for multi-page documents.
Text stays sharp
Only raster images are recompressed; text and vector graphics are untouched.
Three steps to a smaller PDF
- 1
Upload your PDF
Drag and drop your PDF onto the page, or click to browse.
- 2
Pick a compression level
Choose Smallest file, Balanced, or Best quality depending on how much you want to shrink it.
- 3
Compress and download
Click Compress — your browser recompresses embedded photos instantly. Download the result, nothing is uploaded.
Built for anyone who works with PDFs
Whether you're getting under an email attachment limit, an upload form's file-size cap, or just want a smaller scanned document — PixelTools compresses your PDF in seconds, free, with no upload.
Email attachments
Shrink a scanned PDF below an email provider's size limit before sending.
Scanned documents
Reduce the size of a phone-scanned document full of high-resolution photos.
Upload forms
Get under a website's file-size cap for a resume, application, or submission.
Business archives
Shrink a folder of photo-heavy reports before archiving or backing them up.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compress a PDF file?
+
Drag your PDF onto this page, pick Smallest file, Balanced, or Best quality, then click Compress. Your browser recompresses the embedded photos and gives you a download — nothing is uploaded, and it takes seconds even for multi-page files.
Is this tool free?
+
Yes, completely free with no limits. No account required.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
+
No. Compression happens entirely in your browser using pdf-lib. Your file never leaves your device.
How does it shrink the file?
+
It finds embedded JPEG photos inside your PDF and recompresses them at a lower quality — this is the dominant cause of PDF bloat in scanned documents and photo-heavy files. Text and vector graphics are left untouched.
Why did my PDF barely shrink?
+
If your PDF is mostly text or vector graphics (like a report or invoice) it's already compact — there's little for this tool to compress. Compression works best on scanned pages or photo-heavy documents.
Will compression make text blurry?
+
No. Only embedded raster images are recompressed — the underlying text stays sharp and selectable.
From the blog
Guides5 min read
Does Compressing a PDF Blur the Text?
Compressing a PDF blurs text only when the page is a scanned image. See what the compressor touches, the DPI each quality level leaves, and how to check.
Guides5 min read
PDF Too Large to Email? Get Under 25MB
A PDF over the email limit? Gmail's 25MB cap counts the encoded file, so aim for about 18MB. Here is how to shrink it or split it.
Guides5 min read
How to Compress a PDF Without Losing Quality
Shrink a PDF for email or upload: what makes it big, three ways to compress it, the settings that matter, and why some files barely shrink.
Compress your PDF now
Free, instant, no account needed.