PDF how-tos
How to Compress a PDF (and Meet Upload Size Limits)
Updated 25 September 2026 · 4 min read
Job portals, exam forms, bank KYC and government sites often limit uploads to a few hundred KB or a couple of MB, and email attachments are usually capped at 20–25 MB. Here's how to get your PDF under the limit without making it unreadable.
Step by step
- Open the compress PDF tool and choose your file (up to 50 MB).
- Pick a level:
- Strong (72 dpi images) — smallest files, for strict portal limits and on-screen viewing.
- Recommended (150 dpi) — the best balance for email and home printing.
- Light (300 dpi) — keeps print quality.
- Click Compress. You'll see the new size and how much you saved, then download.
The file is sent over an encrypted connection, processed automatically, and both copies are deleted from the server within one hour.
Still too big?
- Use the original, not a scan. A PDF exported from Word or a bank website is far smaller than a scan of a printout.
- Rebuild it from photos at a smaller size. Convert pages to images, then back with JPG to PDF — see how to convert JPG to PDF.
- Split it. Many portals accept several smaller files instead of one big one.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my PDF so large?
Almost always because of images — especially scanned pages and phone photos, which can be several MB per page. Text and vector graphics take very little space.
Will compressing make text blurry?
No. Text, fonts and vector graphics stay sharp; only embedded images are resampled to a lower resolution.