Compress a PDF to under 500 KB
A comfortable size for multi-page scans and photo-heavy documents. Most files reach it with readable text.
Drop pdf files here, or browse
Up to 1 file, 100 MB each
Need to combine files first? Merge PDF.
How much a 500 KB file can hold
At 500 KB the question is no longer whether a short scan fits, but how many pages you can include before quality drops. Our results:
| Test file | Before | After | Images |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 pages of scanned notes | 669 KB | 314.0 KB | 96 dpi |
| 4 phone photos of documents | 4.93 MB | 414.5 KB | 96 dpi |
| 10-page scan at 300 dpi | 8.76 MB | 475.4 KB | 60 dpi |
| 300-page text report, no images | 835 KB | 547.2 KB (missed) | unchanged |
Four or five pages is the comfortable range. Both the notes and the phone photos came out at 96 dpi, where even the photos' 7 pt print was clean. The phone photos went from almost 5 MB to 415 KB, a 92% cut, with no change you'd notice on screen.
Ten scanned pages also fitted, but it took 60 dpi. Body text was soft but readable; the small print at the foot of each page was not. Files we tested that were already smaller than 500 KB (a one-page scan and a slide) came back unchanged.
When text is the problem, not images
Our 300-page report has no pictures at all, only text. The smallest we could make it was 547 KB, and the result card said so. Lowering image resolution can't shrink fonts and words. For a document like that:
- Split itinto sections and upload the part that's asked for.
- Save it again from the program that made it, choosing its smallest PDF option.
- Remove appendices, cover pages and blank pages before compressing.
Compressing to 500 KB, step by step
- Upload one PDF of up to 100 MB. The target is set to 500 KB.
- Press Compress PDF. Large scans take five to ten seconds on our server.
- Look at the resolution on the result card: 96 dpi or more is sharp, 60 dpi or less means you should check the small print.
- Download the file. We delete your upload and our copy as soon as it's sent back.
How it works
Step 1
Choose your file
Upload one PDF, up to 100 MB. The 500 KB target is set already.
Step 2
Resolution is lowered only as far as needed
Photos and scanned pages are resized step by step until the whole file fits under 500 KB. Text and vector drawings are left alone.
Step 3
Save the smaller PDF
The result card tells you the resolution your images ended up at, so you know what to expect before you open it.
Your files, your privacy
Every tool on this site processes your files in the browser or deletes them immediately after server-side processing. No human sees your documents. Ever.