Reduce PDF file size while preserving quality

1 min read·25 July 2026

Need to reduce a large PDF without noticeable quality loss? PDFrust optimises your PDF by compressing images, removing unnecessary data and improving file structure.

How large PDFs can be

PDFs vary greatly in size. A text-only document is 50–200 KB. A scanned document with photos can be 5–50 MB. Presentations with high-res images: 20–100 MB. Email providers limit attachments to 10–25 MB.

What compression does

PDFrust's compress tool optimises: images are recompressed at lower resolution (screen quality vs print quality), embedded fonts are optimised, unnecessary objects are removed. Result: 20–80% smaller without visible quality loss for screen use.

Compress PDF

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Choose compression levels

PDFrust offers a choice: "Maximum quality" (small reduction), "Recommended" (best-fit quality/size), "Maximum compression" (small file, more quality loss). For web use "Recommended" is optimal; for archiving choose "Maximum quality".

When compression isn't enough

If the PDF has very large embedded images (high-res photos), even maximum compression may still yield a large file. Consider: reducing images in the original document before PDF export, or splitting the document into smaller parts.

Difference from resize

Compressing reduces file size. Resize changes the page format. If you want an A3 document saved as A4, use resize. If you want to make a large A4 PDF smaller, use compress.