Compress PDF Online
Shrink a PDF's file size with a quality level you choose — free, unlimited, and completely private.
Need to go smaller? This tool runs entirely in your browser, which keeps your file private but caps how aggressively it can shrink very large or image-heavy PDFs. For maximum compression, batch processing, or files over 100 MB, our sister site pdfcompressor.cc runs dedicated compression algorithms built specifically for that job.
Drop a PDF to compress
One PDF at a time. Pick a compression level once it's uploaded.
Why compress a PDF with PDFBell
PDFBell's compress PDF tool shrinks a file's size so it's easier to email, upload, or store, without you needing to understand PDF internals to do it. Pick a compression level — Low, Medium, or High — and the tool rebuilds the file accordingly, showing you the size before and after so you can see exactly how much you saved before downloading.
Compression happens entirely inside your browser tab. Your file is never uploaded to a server, queued for processing, or stored anywhere outside your own device — the smaller PDF is assembled locally and handed straight back to you as a download. Low strips unnecessary metadata and re-saves the file with more efficient internal structure, keeping text sharp and fully selectable. Medium and High redraw each page as a compressed image at a reduced resolution and quality, which shrinks the file much further at the cost of text no longer being selectable in the result — a tradeoff worth knowing before you pick a level.
The most common reason to compress a PDF is a size limit somewhere downstream: an email provider that rejects large attachments, a web form that caps uploads, or simply wanting a file that doesn't eat up storage. A scanned or photo-heavy PDF is usually the best candidate for a big reduction, since Medium or High can meaningfully shrink image content; a mostly-text document with few images may only see modest savings even at High, since there isn't much image weight left to remove.
This tool is built for quick, everyday compression rather than squeezing the absolute smallest possible file out of a huge batch. If you regularly work with very large PDFs, need to compress dozens of files at once, or want compression tuned specifically for maximum size reduction, PDFBell's sister site pdfcompressor.cc is purpose-built for exactly that and is worth trying alongside this tool.
How to compress a PDF
- Step 1
Upload your PDF
Drag and drop a PDF onto the upload area, or click Browse files to pick it from your device.
- Step 2
Choose a compression level
Pick Low for a lossless-style save, or Medium/High for bigger reductions via page rasterizing.
- Step 3
Compress the file
Click Compress PDF. Your browser rebuilds the file locally at the level you chose.
- Step 4
Check the savings and download
Compare the before-and-after file size, then download once the ding! plays.
Common ways to use it
Fit under an email attachment limit
Shrink a report or scanned document enough to clear a mail provider's size cap.
Meet a web form's upload limit
Compress a PDF so it fits under a job application, government portal, or webform's file-size cap.
Shrink a scanned or photo-heavy PDF
Reduce a document built from scanned pages or photos, where images make up most of the file size.
Free up storage space
Keep an archive of PDFs smaller without deleting any of the documents themselves.
Frequently asked questions
Is this compress PDF tool really free?
Yes. Compressing a PDF is completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark, and no limit on how many times you use it.
Does my PDF get uploaded anywhere?
No. Compression happens locally in your browser — your PDF never leaves your device or touches our servers.
Which level should I pick?
Start with Low if you need text to stay selectable. Try Medium or High if you need a much smaller file and don't mind pages becoming images.
Why is my text no longer selectable after compressing?
Medium and High redraw each page as a compressed image to shrink the file further, which trades away selectable text for a smaller size. Use Low to keep text selectable.
Why didn't my file get much smaller?
A mostly-text PDF with few images has little to compress even at High — image-heavy or scanned PDFs typically see the largest size reductions.
I need to compress a lot of files or one very large file — what should I use?
Try our sister site pdfcompressor.cc — it's purpose-built for batch processing and maximum compression on large files.