PDF Compressor
Compress PDF files to a target size for government forms, exam registrations, and upload portals
Drop PDF files here
or click to browse
How to compress a PDF to 100KB
Pick a target size — 100 KB is the most common requirement, and the 200/300/500 KB chips or the custom field cover other upload limits. Drop your PDF onto the page: each file is re-encoded page by page until it fits the target, then saved with Save (or Save ZIP for the whole batch).
Everything runs in your browser on any platform — Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone or Android. Nothing to install, no account to create, and your document never leaves your device.
Which target size should you pick?
100 KB and 300 KB are the sizes government application, exam registration and visa portals ask for most often. A custom target as low as 50 KB works for short, mostly-text scans, while 200–500 KB keeps photo-heavy documents (ID scans, visa photos) comfortably readable.
If a file is already smaller than your target, it passes through untouched — compression never enlarges a document or re-encodes it needlessly.
What happens to quality and selectable text?
Each page is re-rendered and saved as a JPEG at the best quality that still fits your target, so a scanned form stays readable at every step. The honest framing is "as small as possible without becoming unreadable" — a very dense document forced far below its natural size will soften, and the tool tells you when it could not reach the target rather than failing silently.
Because pages are stored as images, text is no longer selectable or searchable after a re-encode. For scanned documents nothing changes — the page was already a picture. The tool warns you before saving when a PDF has a selectable-text layer, and your original file is never modified.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I compress a PDF to 100KB or 300KB?
- Pick a target size — 100 KB, 200 KB, 300 KB, 500 KB or type your own
- Drop your PDF files onto the page
- Each PDF is re-encoded page by page until it fits the target — click Save (or Save ZIP for all files at once)
Why do government and exam portals ask for 100KB PDFs?
Many government application, exam registration and visa portals enforce fixed upload size limits — 100KB and 300KB are the most common specifications. Photos and scans of documents are almost always larger, so they must be compressed before the portal accepts them.
Does compression reduce the quality of my PDF?
Every page is re-encoded as a sharp JPEG at the best quality that still fits the target size — text and form fields stay readable. If even the smallest rendering overshoots the target (very dense or many pages), the tool says so instead of silently degrading your document.
Will my PDF still have selectable text after compression?
No — the compressed PDF is built from page images, so text can no longer be selected or searched. This is fine for scanned documents and forms, which are pictures anyway. We show a warning when a PDF contains text. If the upload portal requires searchable text, use a desktop PDF tool instead.
How many pages can I compress in one file?
Documents up to 50 pages are supported in the browser. Compression never drops pages — every page is kept, only the images are made smaller.
Can I compress multiple PDFs at once?
Yes — drop several PDFs and each is compressed to the same target size. When two or more finish, the Save ZIP button packages them all into a single file.
Is this PDF compressor private?
Yes! All compression happens locally in your browser using PDF.js. Your documents are never uploaded to any server.
What is the file size limit?
Each PDF can be up to 500 MB and you can batch up to 50 files. Password-protected PDFs must be unlocked first.
Can I compress a PDF to 50KB?
Often, yes. Type 50 into the custom target field — a short, mostly-text scan usually fits after re-encoding. A dense or many-page document may not reach it: when even the smallest rendering overshoots the target, the tool hands back the smallest version and says so instead of failing silently.
Can I compress a PDF to under 1MB?
Yes. Set any custom target — 1 MB, 2 MB, whatever your portal allows — and each PDF is re-encoded until it fits. If the file is already smaller than the target, it is returned unchanged with an "Already under target" status.