Documents

PDF Compressor to a Target KB Size

Enter a target such as 100KB, 200KB or 500KB. ToolNova renders and recompresses each PDF page locally in your browser, which works best for scanned or image-heavy documents.

Click to upload or drag and drop a PDF file here
This works by converting each page to a compressed image and rebuilding the PDF, which shrinks file size a lot but means text in the result is no longer selectable/searchable. Best for scanned documents or image-heavy PDFs; for text documents you want to keep editable, keep the original.

How to use the pdf compressor

  1. Upload a PDF file.
  2. Enter a target size in KB.
  3. Click Compress PDF, then download the result.

Features

  • Works toward a target file size automatically
  • Good for scanned or image-heavy PDFs
  • No file ever leaves your browser

When this PDF compressor works best

This method is designed for scanned forms, certificates and image-heavy PDFs where reducing page-image quality can save a lot of space. It is not ideal for text-first PDFs because the compressed result is rebuilt from page images, so selectable/searchable text is lost.

For very strict limits, start with a realistic target and inspect the result before submitting it. Multi-page PDFs contain more image data, so a 100KB total target can be impractical for a long document.

Frequently asked questions

No — this tool rebuilds the PDF from compressed page images, so any selectable text in the original becomes part of an image instead. If you need to keep text selectable, this isn't the right tool; for a text-based PDF, consider whether you actually need a smaller file at all.

Each page is rendered to an image and re-compressed, sometimes more than once to reach your target, so larger documents take longer. Everything happens locally in your browser, with no server round-trip.

It depends on the original — 100–300KB per page is a reasonable starting point for scanned documents; try a higher number first and reduce it if the file is still too large.

Related tools

Compression has trade-offs

PDF size can come from images, fonts, embedded objects and document structure. A strong compression setting may make scans less readable, so compare small text, signatures and diagrams before replacing the original file.

  • Keep the source PDF until you have checked the compressed copy.
  • For scanned documents, image resolution is often the biggest size driver.
  • If a portal has a strict limit, leave a little margin below it because later processing can change file size.

Related reading: A practical PDF workflow for forms and documents