How to Reduce PDF File Size
Understand PDF compression choices, quality tradeoffs and when a PDF may already be optimized.
Why PDFs vary in size
PDFs can contain text, vector graphics, photos, scans, fonts, forms and already-compressed streams. No single compression setting produces the same savings for every file.
Quality tradeoffs
Image-based compression can reduce scanned and photo-heavy PDFs by rendering pages at a controlled resolution and JPEG quality. This can flatten selectable text and interactive features.
When no reduction is possible
A small text-heavy PDF may already be efficiently compressed. A larger processed result should not be presented as a successful compression.