How to compress a PDF for email under 10 MB

1 min read·25 July 2026

Many email providers reject attachments larger than 10 MB — or even 5 MB. With PDFrust you compress a PDF so it stays under that limit, without visible quality loss for the recipient.

Why is my PDF so large?

Large PDFs usually contain high-resolution images, embedded fonts, or many pages. A scanned PDF with 300 dpi images per page quickly weighs 2–5 MB per page. A Word export with dozens of photos can become 20+ MB.

Compress vs. compressImg

The compress tool reduces the overall file size of the PDF by optimising internal structures. The compressImg tool targets embedded images specifically and lowers the resolution and quality factor. Combine both for maximum results.

Compress PDF

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Step by step

First open the compressImg tool: upload your PDF, set the image quality (70–80% gives a good balance), and download. Then upload the result to the compress tool for final optimisation. Check the file size afterwards.

Alternatives if compression is not enough

If the PDF is still too large after compression, consider: 1) splitting into several smaller files with the split tool; 2) sending via a link (Google Drive, WeTransfer) instead of an attachment; 3) removing images and sending them separately.