Reduce PDF size for sharing and upload limits
Large PDFs can be difficult to email or upload to portals with strict file-size limits. This compressor reduces size by rendering and rebuilding PDF pages at a smaller image footprint, which can be effective for scanned or image-heavy documents.
How to compress a PDF
- Select the PDF file.
- Choose the available compression/quality setting.
- Process the document in your browser.
- Compare the output and download it if the quality is acceptable.
When this method works best
Scanned documents, photo-heavy PDFs and files intended mainly for viewing can benefit most. PDFs up to 1 GiB can be selected; success depends on available device memory and temporary storage. Large documents work best on a desktop. Text-native reports, engineering drawings, forms, tagged PDFs and digitally signed documents may be better optimized with specialist PDF software that preserves document structure.
Other ways to reduce a PDF
If unnecessary pages are the main problem, use Split PDF to keep only the pages you need. For documents made from oversized photos, compressing or resizing the images before creating the PDF can also produce a smaller final file.
Privacy
This compression workflow runs locally in the browser; the selected PDF is not uploaded to UVs Tool Hub. Temporary local storage may be used for the result. It is normally cleared when the file changes or the page closes; interrupted sessions may leave temporary data until a later visit.
Frequently asked questions
Are PDFs uploaded for compression?
No. This compression workflow runs in your browser.
Why can compressed PDFs look different?
The tool reduces size by rebuilding pages at a smaller image footprint, so text and vector content can become rasterized and may lose sharpness.
Is this suitable for digitally signed PDFs?
Rebuilding a PDF changes the document. Do not use it when you must preserve an existing digital signature or exact original structure.
What should I do if quality is too low?
Use a less aggressive compression setting or keep the original PDF when fidelity is more important than file size.