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Compress PDF

PDFFree · Private

Reduce the size of your PDF in your browser by removing metadata and optimizing structure. No upload, no quality loss on text and vectors.

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Drop a PDF here or click to browse

Removes metadata and optimizes internal structure

Note: This tool removes metadata and optimizes object streams. For deeper compression (image downsampling), a server-side tool is needed.

How PDF compression works here

This tool uses pdf-lib to reload and re-save your PDF with useObjectStreams: true, which packs multiple PDF objects together using Flate (zlib) compression. It also strips document metadata (author, title, creator) that may bloat the file. This approach is entirely client-side and lossless — no images are re-encoded.

Limitations

Because images are not re-encoded, PDFs that are already optimized or image-heavy may see minimal size reduction. For aggressive image compression, server-side tools like Ghostscript achieve better results but require uploading your file.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much will my PDF shrink?
Results vary. PDFs heavy with metadata, embedded thumbnails, or redundant streams see the most reduction. PDFs that are already optimized may not shrink significantly.
Will compression reduce image quality in my PDF?
This tool uses structural compression — it does not re-encode embedded images. Text and vector graphics are completely unaffected.
Is this the same as iLovePDF compression?
iLovePDF uses server-side image downsampling for deeper compression. This tool is entirely client-side and focuses on structural optimization without re-encoding images.

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