A PDF that's too large to email usually got that way from embedded photos or scanned pages, not the text. pdfCraft's compress tool lets you compress a PDF online to reduce PDF size and make a PDF smaller, without losing quality you'd actually notice — upload it, pick how aggressive to be, and download a smaller file.
Step 1: Upload your PDF
Go to Compress PDF and drop in your file. No account is needed. On the free plan you can compress files up to 50 MB and 50 pages.
Step 2: Pick a quality level
Choose High, Medium, or Low. This controls how aggressively embedded images get re-encoded — High keeps them closest to the original, Low shrinks them the most but is more visibly lossy. Image recompression is a Pro feature; on the free plan your file still gets a safe, lossless cleanup pass regardless of which level you pick.
Step 3: Download your compressed PDF
Download the result — you'll see exactly how much smaller it got before you do.
What actually gets smaller
Two separate things happen when you compress:
- Free, every time: pdfCraft strips unnecessary metadata (title, author, and similar fields) and restructures the file's internal object streams. This part is lossless — it never touches your content, and it's included on every plan.
- Pro only: embedded photos and scanned images are re-encoded at the quality level you picked. This is where most of the size reduction comes from for an image-heavy file, and it's also the one part of the process that's genuinely lossy — "without losing quality" means not losing quality you'd notice at the High or Medium settings, not that literally nothing changes.
A PDF that's mostly text sees modest savings on any plan, since there's little image data to work with either way. A scanned document or a report full of photos only gets meaningfully smaller with Pro's image recompression — the free plan's lossless pass won't do much for a file like that, since it doesn't touch images at all.
What size can you expect?
There's no fixed target — it depends on what's in your file, not a setting you can dial to a specific number. If you're compressing for a portal or application that needs a file "under 1MB" or "under 200KB," don't count on hitting an exact figure: a photo-heavy or scanned PDF might get there easily on Pro, or might not get there at all on the free plan, since image recompression (where most of the size reduction happens) isn't included. If you're up against a hard size limit, check the result after compressing rather than assuming a number in advance — and consider splitting the file to send only the pages that are actually needed, which can get you under a limit when compression alone can't.
Frequently asked questions
Will compressing a PDF reduce its quality?
The metadata and structural cleanup never does — that part is lossless and on every plan. Image recompression (Pro) is lossy by design: Low will show more visible compression than High. Pick High if quality matters most, Low if size matters most.
Is it free to compress a PDF online?
Compressing is free with no account needed, within the free limits: 50 MB per file, up to 50 pages, and 25 exports a day per device. The free plan gets lossless metadata/structure cleanup; actual image recompression — the part that matters most for photo-heavy or scanned files — is a Pro feature.
How much smaller will my file get?
Depends on the file and your plan. On Pro, PDFs with large embedded photos or scans see the biggest reductions, since that's exactly what image recompression targets. On the free plan, a text-heavy PDF will still shrink a bit from the lossless cleanup, but an image-heavy file won't shrink much without Pro.
Does compression change the text or layout?
No, on any plan. Only metadata, internal file structure, and — on Pro — embedded images are affected. The text, fonts, and page layout stay exactly as they were.
Can I compress a scanned PDF?
You can upload one on any plan, but a scanned PDF is mostly image data, so meaningful size reduction needs Pro's image recompression. On the free plan, scanned files will only see the smaller savings from lossless cleanup.
How do I compress a PDF for email?
Go to pdfCraft's compress tool, upload the file, and download the result — most email providers cap attachments around 20–25 MB. If your file is still too large for email after compressing, try splitting it and sending only the pages you need.
When you'd actually use this
- Getting a PDF under an email attachment size limit
- Shrinking a file before uploading it to a form or portal with a size cap
- Reducing storage for documents you're archiving
- Making a scanned document small enough to share over WhatsApp or a slow connection
Once a file's compressed, you might also want to merge it with other documents — see How to Merge PDF Files into One — or edit its text, covered in How to Edit Text in a PDF Online.
Compress a PDF now — free, no account needed.