How do I compress a PDF for free?

Drop the PDF into the tool above, optionally type a target size in KB, and press Compress — then download the result. It is free with no account, no email and no cap on how many files you compress. The only thing you give up is that the file is briefly uploaded, because real PDF compression cannot be done by a browser alone.

How do I resize a PDF?

Upload it here and set a target size in KB — that shrinks the file, which is what almost everyone means by resizing a PDF. If you instead need to change the page dimensions (A4 to Letter, say), that is a different job: use your PDF reader's print-to-size option, because this tool deliberately leaves page geometry untouched.

How do I compress a PDF to 100KB, 200KB or 1MB?

Type the number into the target size box: 100 for 100 KB, 200 for 200 KB, or 1024 for 1 MB. ResizeMate then tries each quality level from best downwards and returns the highest quality that still fits under your limit. Whether a given target is reachable depends on the document — a scanned or photo-heavy PDF has plenty to trim, a plain text one has very little.

Is this PDF compressor free to use online?

Yes. It is a free online PDF compressor with no signup, no watermark on the output, no daily file limit and no paid tier — the target-size feature is not held back behind an upgrade.

How does this compare to iLovePDF, Adobe Acrobat or 11zon?

All of them, including this one, compress on a server — Ghostscript and Acrobat's engine both need to rewrite the PDF's internals, which a browser cannot do. What differs here is that you can name an exact target in KB rather than picking a vague quality level, there is no account or install, and your file is deleted as soon as the response is sent. If you already have Acrobat, its optimiser gives you finer manual control than any web tool.

Will my PDF still have selectable text?

Yes — that is the main advantage over a browser-only compressor. Ghostscript recompresses images and leaves text, fonts and vector graphics as real PDF content, so it stays selectable, searchable and copyable.

What if the target size is impossible to hit?

ResizeMate tries every quality level from best to smallest and returns the highest quality that fits. If none fit, it returns the smallest possible result and tells you so.

Are my PDFs uploaded?

Yes, briefly — this is the one tool on ResizeMate that isn't purely client-side, because real PDF compression needs a server-side engine. Your file is compressed and deleted within seconds of the request finishing; it is never stored or logged.

Why is this different from the other tools here?

Every other ResizeMate tool works entirely in your browser. A browser has no way to recompress a PDF's internals, so this is the one exception — and the upload is temporary by design, not a stored account or history.

PDF Resize — Compress a PDF to a Target Size

Resize a PDF down to the size an upload form demands — set a target in KB and download. Unlike a browser-only tool, this recompresses the PDF properly: text stays text, images get smaller, nothing is flattened into a picture.

Drop PDF here or click to browse Uploaded to compress, deleted immediately after

Deleted right after compressing
No signup
Free & unlimited

To compress a PDF online, drop it in, optionally set a target size in KB, and download. ResizeMate runs it through Ghostscript on our server — the same engine professional PDF tools use — and deletes the file immediately after.

How to compress a PDF to a target size

Add your PDF. Drop in a PDF file, or click to browse.
Set a target size (optional). Type a KB limit — e.g. 500 for a 500 KB cap — or pick a quality level instead and leave the target blank.
Compress & download. Download the smaller PDF once it is ready — usually a few seconds.

What "PDF resize" actually means

Almost everyone searching for a PDF resize tool wants the same thing: a PDF that is too big for an upload limit, made small enough to go through. That is a file-size problem, not a page-size one, and shrinking the file is exactly what this tool does — set a target in KB and it works down to it.

The other, rarer meaning of resizing a PDF is changing the physical page dimensions — A4 to Letter, or scaling every page to fit a different paper size. This tool does not do that; it leaves your page geometry untouched and only makes the file lighter. If a printer has asked you for a specific paper size, you want your PDF editor's print-to-size option, not a compressor.

The distinction matters because a lot of "resize PDF" sites quietly do the first thing while implying the second. Here it is stated plainly: this resizes the file, not the paper.

Why this one tool isn't browser-only

Every other tool on this site runs entirely on your device — that's the whole point of ResizeMate. PDF compression is the one job a browser genuinely can't do well: without a full PDF-editing engine, the only browser-side option is to redraw every page as a flat image, which throws away selectable text and often looks worse than the original.

So this tool uploads your PDF to our server, where Ghostscript — the open-source engine behind most professional PDF compressors — recompresses the embedded images and downsamples resolution, while leaving fonts, text and vector graphics exactly as they were. The file is processed and deleted within seconds; nothing is stored, logged or kept.

What actually gets smaller

Ghostscript's compression works on the images inside a PDF, not the text. A document that is mostly scanned pages or embedded photos will shrink dramatically. A PDF that is already just a few paragraphs of text has very little to trim, because there is no image data to recompress.

Content	Compresses well	Notes
Scanned document (photographed or scanned pages)	Yes	The most common source of an oversized PDF
Photo-heavy report or brochure	Yes	Embedded images are recompressed directly
Plain text document (contract, letter)	A little	Little image data to trim — already fairly small

Common PDF upload limits

Government and exam portals often cap PDF uploads at 200 KB–1 MB per document.
Email attachments are usually safest kept under a few MB in total across all files.
Job application and visa portals frequently ask for "under 2 MB" per document.

Building a PDF from images instead? Use Image to PDF, which runs entirely in your browser.

Why use ResizeMate

Deleted instantly

Your PDF is compressed on our server and deleted the moment the response is sent — nothing is kept.

Real compression

Ghostscript recompresses embedded images and keeps text selectable — a browser alone can't do that.

Free

No signup, no watermark, no limits.

Frequently asked questions

How do I compress a PDF for free?: Drop the PDF into the tool above, optionally type a target size in KB, and press Compress — then download the result. It is free with no account, no email and no cap on how many files you compress. The only thing you give up is that the file is briefly uploaded, because real PDF compression cannot be done by a browser alone.
How do I resize a PDF?: Upload it here and set a target size in KB — that shrinks the file, which is what almost everyone means by resizing a PDF. If you instead need to change the page dimensions (A4 to Letter, say), that is a different job: use your PDF reader's print-to-size option, because this tool deliberately leaves page geometry untouched.
How do I compress a PDF to 100KB, 200KB or 1MB?: Type the number into the target size box: 100 for 100 KB, 200 for 200 KB, or 1024 for 1 MB. ResizeMate then tries each quality level from best downwards and returns the highest quality that still fits under your limit. Whether a given target is reachable depends on the document — a scanned or photo-heavy PDF has plenty to trim, a plain text one has very little.
Is this PDF compressor free to use online?: Yes. It is a free online PDF compressor with no signup, no watermark on the output, no daily file limit and no paid tier — the target-size feature is not held back behind an upgrade.
How does this compare to iLovePDF, Adobe Acrobat or 11zon?: All of them, including this one, compress on a server — Ghostscript and Acrobat's engine both need to rewrite the PDF's internals, which a browser cannot do. What differs here is that you can name an exact target in KB rather than picking a vague quality level, there is no account or install, and your file is deleted as soon as the response is sent. If you already have Acrobat, its optimiser gives you finer manual control than any web tool.
Will my PDF still have selectable text?: Yes — that is the main advantage over a browser-only compressor. Ghostscript recompresses images and leaves text, fonts and vector graphics as real PDF content, so it stays selectable, searchable and copyable.
What if the target size is impossible to hit?: ResizeMate tries every quality level from best to smallest and returns the highest quality that fits. If none fit, it returns the smallest possible result and tells you so.
Are my PDFs uploaded?: Yes, briefly — this is the one tool on ResizeMate that isn't purely client-side, because real PDF compression needs a server-side engine. Your file is compressed and deleted within seconds of the request finishing; it is never stored or logged.
Why is this different from the other tools here?: Every other ResizeMate tool works entirely in your browser. A browser has no way to recompress a PDF's internals, so this is the one exception — and the upload is temporary by design, not a stored account or history.