TL;DR: Upload a PDF, pick a compression level (Light / Recommended / Extreme), and download the smaller version — typically 50-75% smaller.
Compress PDF online for free — reduce PDF file size by up to 90% without losing quality. Choose from light, balanced, or extreme compression levels. Preview estimated savings before downloading. No file limits, no sign-up.
Every PrivaTools tool — including Compress PDF — is genuinely free with no premium tier, no per-day limit, and no watermark on the output. Files are deleted from the server within seconds of your download completing. Source code: github.com/taiyeba-dg/privatools.
Most PDFs shrink 50–75%. Scanned PDFs with large embedded images often see 70–90% reduction; text-heavy PDFs with vector graphics may only shrink 5–15% because the text is already minimally encoded.
Text and vector graphics are always lossless — you cannot tell them apart from the original. Only embedded raster images are recompressed, and only at the Recommended or Extreme presets. Use the Light preset to keep images untouched.
Yes. The compressed file is processed in an isolated Docker container, held in temp memory only for the duration of the request, and unlinked the moment the response is delivered. The file is never written to permanent storage, never logged, and never used to train any model. The entire stack is open source so you can verify this on GitHub.
500 MB per file. There is no daily, weekly, or monthly quota — you can compress unlimited files. If you need to compress dozens of files at once, use the Batch Compress PDF tool which accepts up to 50 PDFs in one go.
Not directly — encryption prevents the compressor from rewriting the content streams. Use the Unlock PDF tool first (you'll need the password), compress the unlocked version, then re-protect with the Protect PDF tool if needed.
Free with no daily quota (iLovePDF and Smallpdf cap free tier at 2 files/day), no watermark, no account required, no file size limit beyond 500 MB, and the entire compressor is open source under the MIT license so you can self-host it.
See how PrivaTools compares to iLovePDF, Smallpdf, Adobe Acrobat, and other free PDF tools.