Free tool · Windows and macOS
Compress a PDF without uploading it.
Shrink a PDF to fit an email or an upload form. Choose how hard to compress, run it on one file or a whole folder, and never send your document to a website.
How to compress a PDF with Paperwing
- Open Paperwing and drop your PDF on the window, or press Ctrl+O (⌘O on a Mac).
- Open All tools and choose Compress PDF, or type “compress pdf” in the search box. Shift+Ctrl+P finds any tool from anywhere.
- Choose the algorithm (Condense is recommended) and the level (Balanced is a good start). Tick Convert to Grayscale if colour doesn’t matter.
- Run it. The smaller PDF opens in a new tab, so you can compare it with the original before saving.
- Press Ctrl+S to save it.
What you can do
- Remove dead weight, optimize images and subset fonts
- Choose a compression level, from light to strong
- Convert to grayscale for a smaller file
- Compress many files at once from Home
- Fix pages that render slowly with Linearize PDF or Rasterize PDF
Why do it on your computer
The files people compress are usually the ones they’re about to send somewhere official: passports, payslips, bank statements. Compressing them on your computer means they reach only the place you send them.
Paperwing is a free, open-source desktop app for Windows and macOS with more than 100 PDF tools. It works offline, there’s no account, and every tool is free. Download it or browse all the tools.
Questions
How much smaller will my PDF get?
It depends on what’s inside. PDFs with large photos or scans shrink a lot; text-only PDFs are already small. Try Balanced first and go stronger if you need to.
Will compression make text blurry?
Text stays sharp, since it isn’t an image. Strong levels reduce the quality of photos and scans, so check the result before you save.
Related tools
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