Compress PDF Online Free

Why Compress a PDF?

PDFs created from scanned documents, presentations, or high-resolution images can easily reach 50–200 MB. These large files are too big to email, too slow to upload to government portals, and wasteful in cloud storage. Compressing a PDF reduces its file size by re-rendering each page at a lower resolution — a standard technique used by tools like Acrobat, Smallpdf, and ILovePDF.

Most online PDF compressors send your file to a remote server for processing, which raises privacy concerns. FreeUtilityTools compresses PDFs entirely inside your browser using pdfjs-dist and pdf-lib — your document never leaves your device.

Understanding the Quality Presets

Screen (72 DPI)

Smallest output. Ideal for web sharing, email attachments, and upload portals with strict size limits. Visible quality reduction on close inspection.

eBook (96 DPI)

Balanced quality and size. Good for digital reading, sharing with colleagues, and most everyday use cases where moderate quality is acceptable.

Print (150 DPI)

High quality output. Near-original appearance at normal reading sizes. Best for documents that will be read carefully or printed at small formats.

Common Use Cases

Email attachments

Keep PDF attachments under 10 MB so they pass through email server limits without getting blocked.

Government portal uploads

Many official portals cap uploads at 2–5 MB. Compressing to Screen quality usually brings large PDFs within limits.

Cloud storage

Reduce the storage footprint of scanned document archives without having to delete files.

WhatsApp & messaging

Share compressed PDFs over messaging apps that have file size limits or compress attachments automatically.

University submissions

Academic portals often reject large PDF uploads. Compress to eBook quality for a clean, readable submission.

Faster web loading

Serve smaller PDFs on websites and landing pages to improve page load times for visitors.

Frequently Asked Questions