How to Compress a PDF File: 4 Easy Tricks on PC & Mac

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If the PDF you're working on is too large to email or takes up too much space on your computer, you can compress it to reduce its file size. Compressing a PDF reduces its quality, which makes its file size smaller. Try Adobe's free online PDF compressor to compress a PDF for free, or use Preview if you're on a Mac. If you subscribe to Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can compress a PDF using the Optimize PDF tool. You can also reduce a PDF's size by compressing it with Microsoft Word. This wikiHow guide will teach you quick and easy ways to reduce the size of a PDF file by compressing it.

• Even if you don't pay for Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can use Adobe's online PDF compressor for free.
• If you have a Mac, you can compress a PDF by reducing its size in Preview.
• You can open a PDF in Microsoft Word and compress it, or save a Word document as a compressed PDF.

Using Adobe Online Compressor

• This tool will not work if the PDF is encrypted.

Drag your PDF to the box. Alternatively, you can click Select a file and double-click the PDF file you want to compress.

Select a compression amount. The High option will result in the smallest file with standard quality, while Low will only compress the PDF a small amount. If you're not sure which option to choose, opt for Medium compression.

Using Preview on Mac

• Click Preview on the Launchpad to open the app.
• Click File in the menu bar at the top.
• Click Open. in the drop-down menu.
• Select a file in the dialog box.
• Click Open.

• Be sure not to choose "Export as PDF," as you won't have the option to compress it that way.

Type a name for the file (optional). If you want to create a new name for the compressed PDF, type it next to "Export as."

Select "Reduce File Size" from the "Quartz Filter" menu. Use the drop-down menu next to "Quartz Filter" to select "Reduce File Size." [1] X Research source

Select a location in which to save the PDF. Use the drop-down menu next to "Where:" to select a location to save the file. By default, it will be saved to your desktop.

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro

• There's no need to open your PDF just yet—just launch Acrobat Pro for now.

Open the Optimize PDF too. To do this, find the "Optimize PDF" icon under "Protect & Standardize," click its drop-down menu, then select Open. The "Open" dialog will expand.

Select the PDF you want to compress and click Open . Your PDF will now open in Acrobat. [2] X Research source

Choose a compatibility option and click OK . In most cases, you should choose Retain Existing here to ensure your PDF will be compatible with the latest version of Acrobat. Alternatively, you can choose a different version of Acrobat now. [3] X Research source

Save the compressed PDF file. If you want to overwrite the existing PDF instead of creating a separate optimized version, you can save the PDF with the same file name in the current folder. Enter a new name for the PDF file and click Save to create your smaller PDF file.

Using Microsoft Word

• If you open a PDF in Word, it may not retain all of its original formatting.

Click Create PDF/XPS (PC only). If you're using Windows, click this button on the right panel to export the document as a PDF.

Select PDF as the File Format or Save As type. If you're using a Mac, you'll see this option near the bottom of the window. [4] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source If you're using Windows, PDF should already be selected next to "Save As type."

Select an optimization option. At the bottom of the window, you'll see two options for compression. To compress the PDF to a smaller size, choose Minimum size (Windows) or Best for electronic distribution and accessibility (Mac).

Name the PDF and select a folder. To overwrite the existing PDF file, keep the same name and folder. Otherwise, you can modify the file name and/or choose a different folder now.

Click Publish (PC) or Export (Mac). This saves a compressed version of the PDF to the selected location.

Community Q&A

You can't. A PDF can only be compressed so far. If you have some file size limit, your best alternative is to upload it to a cloud service.

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The text in PDF is mostly gzip compressed. Hence, there will not be any significant gain by any compression technique. The compression level is dependent on the size/resolution of images in PDF. This is a lossy compression where images inside PDF are compressed. I have generally used miniimagesvideos.com/pdf for high compression ratio. There could be some gain in PDF due to removal of some of the unwanted objects in PDF. However, this will not be significant.

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