Make a PDF smaller
Shrink a PDF so you can easily email or upload it. Images are smartly rescaled, locally in your browser — no upload, no server, no waiting.
Choose your PDF
Drop here or click to choose
Files stay on your device — nothing is uploaded
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Your file is processed in your browser and never uploaded.
How does it work?
- 1
Choose your PDF
Drag your PDF here.
- 2
Pick the strength
Light, medium or strong.
- 3
Download
Download the smaller PDF.
Frequently asked questions
How much smaller will the file get?
It depends on the content. PDFs containing many photos or scans commonly shrink by 50% to 80%. A PDF with only text barely shrinks, because text is already stored very compactly. The strongest setting can bring a 10 MB scan down to under 2 MB.
What is the difference between light, medium and strong?
Light compression rescales images to 150 dpi — suitable when you still want to print the PDF at high quality. Medium goes to 96 dpi and is good for digital use. Strong compression brings everything down to 72 dpi and converts pages to JPEG images for the smallest result.
Does text stay selectable after compressing?
With light and medium compression text stays selectable and searchable. With strong compression pages are converted to images, after which text can no longer be selected or copied. Choose strong compression only when that is not a problem for your use.
Why is my PDF so large?
Most large PDFs contain scanned documents or high-resolution photos. A scan of A4 at 300 dpi easily takes 2-5 MB per page. PDFs created from Word or PowerPoint can also be large if they contain many embedded images.
Can I still edit it afterwards?
With light compression the PDF structure stays largely intact and you can still edit the PDF with other tools. With strong compression the pages have become images, which makes further editing more difficult.
Are my files uploaded?
No. Everything happens in your own browser. Your file never leaves your device and is not stored anywhere.
Is it free?
Yes, completely free, without watermark or account. The site is paid for by ads.
More reading
Why in the browser?
PDFrust runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly and modern JavaScript libraries such as pdf-lib and PDF.js. Your file is never sent to a server — all processing happens locally on your device. This means your documents remain private by design, regardless of what they contain. There is no account required, no file size limit, and nothing is stored after you close the tab.
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