Oncea file clinic

Compress PDF

A local rewrite, not a Smallpdf clone. We flatten leftover objects in this tab. Images inside the file are not recompressed. Same clinic as /pdf.

Before you start. About 80 MB is the ceiling. Desktop Chrome or Firefox is the setup that works. iPhone and large files may fail — the work stays in this tab, and the browser can run out of memory.

Compress is a rewrite, not Smallpdf. pdf-lib copies pages into a new file and saves with object streams. That drops unused objects and flattens incremental junk. It does not recompress photos inside the PDF. A scan of a paper form will barely move. A Word export full of leftover objects often will. Useful for flattening before you send.

Drop one PDF. We rewrite it locally. Do not expect Smallpdf ratios.

How to rewrite a PDF here

  1. Read the 80 MB / desktop note, and the honesty note under it.
  2. Drop one PDF. Click Rewrite PDF.
  3. Compare before → after. If it grew, keep the original.

Smallpdf-style shrink recompresses pictures. We do not. This page is useful when a Word or Pages export is bloated with unused objects, or when you want a flatter file before you send it. For merge and split: /pdf/merge, /pdf/split.

FAQ

Will this match Smallpdf?

No. We say so on the page. The useful job is flattening, not photo recompress.

Is the file uploaded?

No. pdf-lib runs in this tab.