Compress a PDF to under 200 KB
A readable PDF under 200 KB for application uploads, compressed on your own device.
- Nothing is uploaded
- Works offline after first visit
- Open source
- No watermark · limit is your device’s memory; phones hold less
Shrink a PDF under 200 KB for an admission or application form while keeping it readable. It is free, needs no account and adds no watermark, and your files are not uploaded: everything runs in your browser on your device. The size limit is your device’s memory, and phones hold less; give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, and then it works offline.
Done
Open the network tab. Your files never appear in it.
Add files and run the tool to see every request this tab makes.
Your files are processed on this device and never sent to a server. Reload the page to clear everything from memory.
200 KB is a typical per-file limit on university admission and school enrolment systems, apprenticeship and public-sector job applications, and some bank forms. It fits one or two scanned pages comfortably once the scan is compressed sensibly, and a typed document almost always fits as it is.
The page walks down a ladder of settings and stops at the first that fits. A PDF exported from Word or Google Docs usually gets there with the lossless rewrite alone, so its text stays selectable and sharp. A scan gets its embedded image recompressed; only if that is not enough are pages turned into pictures, first at 150 DPI and then lower.
When one document has to go up as one file but has many pages, the result card tells you the smallest size it reached, so you know whether to split it or ask for an exception.
Admissions offices tend to reject two kinds of upload: files over the limit and files they cannot read. A page flattened at 110 DPI is still easy to read on screen, but a transcript with small grades in a grey table can blur below that. If the result card says 72 or 60 DPI was needed, zoom in on the smallest print before submitting, and if it is fuzzy, upload fewer pages per file instead.
How it works
- Drop the PDF.
- Keep 200 KB or change the limit.
- Press Compress to 200 KB.
In your browser, not on a server
Lossless cleanup rewrites the PDF with pdf-lib using compressed object streams. Image recompression uses pdf.js to find embedded images, re-encodes each one at a lower quality on a canvas, and pdf-lib swaps the new streams in. Flatten renders every page to an image at the resolution you pick. Each mode runs entirely in your browser.
Compared with upload-based tools: PDF compressors online are the most upload-hungry tools there are, because the whole document has to go up before anything happens. Here a 50 MB scan is processed without a single byte leaving your machine.
Verify it yourself. Give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use, then turn off Wi-Fi or switch to airplane mode and run the tool again. Or open your browser's developer tools (F12, or Cmd-Option-I on a Mac), pick the Network tab, and watch it while you convert. The panel above does the same count for you.
Questions
Can I keep the text selectable?
Usually, yes, for typed documents: the lossless and image steps never touch text. Pages are flattened only when those steps cannot reach 200 KB, and the result card says so.
Why does a two-page scan fit but a one-page photo does not?
Size depends on detail, not page count. A phone photo of a page carries shadows, texture and colour; a flatbed scan of black text on white is mostly empty. Scanning in grayscale, or with a scanner app that whitens the background, helps a lot.
Does it work on a password-protected PDF?
Remove the password first with the unlock tool, which also runs in your browser, then compress the unlocked copy here.
The portal asks for a JPG under 200 KB, not a PDF.
Turn the page into an image with PDF to JPG, then use Compress image to 200 KB; the image compressor finds the best JPG quality under any limit in the same way.
How do I know which step it used?
The result card names it: a lossless cleanup, images at a given quality and resolution, or pages flattened at a given DPI. Anything short of flattening leaves text, links and bookmarks as they were.
Is the file uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no server in this process. The page is a static file and the work is done by code running inside your browser tab. Give the page a short while after one visit to save itself for offline use; then you can turn off Wi-Fi and it still works.
More PDF tools
Compress PDF
Shrink a PDF for email or an upload limit. Pick a level, or type the size you need, like 1 MB, and the page tries the gentlest setting that fits. Processed on your device.
JSON ↔ CSV
Paste or drop your data, choose a direction and get a table or an array back. What you paste stays on this device.
Merge PDF
Combine PDFs into one document and set the order with the arrows. No watermark, nothing uploaded, and the size limit is your device’s memory (phones hold less).
Split PDF
Pull out the pages you need, or break a document into single pages. Done on your device.
Other conversions
Guides
- Is Smallpdf safe?Smallpdf is a reputable Swiss company with published retention rules. What changes the answer for you is which of its storage rules applies to your file.
- How to compress a PDF without losing qualityWhere the size comes from, which reductions are free, and where the quality trade-off actually starts.
- Is PDF24 safe?PDF24 is a long-standing German project, and it tells you itself that its offline app is the more private option. Here is how to choose between the two, and a third way.
- A free Smallpdf alternative with no daily limitSmallpdf's free plan has daily limits. Here is what that means, and a way around it where your files are never uploaded.
- A free iLovePDF alternative with no task limits or adsiLovePDF's free plan works, but with limits on documents, batches and file size. Here is what changes with a tool that never uploads the file at all.