How to compress a PDF
- 01
Add a PDF
Drop it in or pick it from your files.
- 02
Pick a level
Light, Balanced or Maximum. Fine-tune image quality if you like.
- 03
Download
Save the smaller file straight to disk.
Questions
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. LocalPDF runs entirely in your browser: files are read from your disk, processed on your device and saved straight back. Nothing is sent to a server, and once the page has loaded it keeps working with your internet connection switched off.
Will compressing lower the quality?
Text, fonts and vector graphics stay exactly as they were; only images are re-encoded. Light barely changes them, Balanced is hard to tell apart from the original, and Maximum also downsamples images to 150 DPI.
How much smaller will my PDF get?
It depends on what’s inside. Scans and image-heavy documents often shrink by well over half; files that are mostly text are usually already compact and shrink less.
Does it work with password-protected PDFs?
Not yet. Encrypted PDFs are turned away with a message rather than producing a broken file. Remove the protection in your PDF reader first, then try again.