Compress PDFs to make them smaller

PDF compression helps you minimize a PDF’s file size as much as possible without degrading its original quality. For instance, it is exceptionally useful when you need to share documents via email since you’re always guaranteed to meet the attachment limits.

When compressing PDF with PDF Extra Desktop, the software allows you to preview the file size of the compressed file and adjust the level of compression until the file size is acceptable. Previewing is also practical for checking the image quality as PDF compression of images may reduce it.

The PDF Extra Desktop’s compressor balances an optimized file size against the expected quality of images and other file content. If you are not sure what level of compression to use to compress PDF files offline or online, leave it to the PDF compressor and use the default optimized settings.

When choosing this setting, PDF Extra will reduce the size of your PDF files, without compromising on quality. Generally, it’s best to avoid high compression amounts unless necessary since they could significantly degrade the quality of your texts and images.

When sending files over email or sharing them with others, it’s essential to enable image compression so that the final result takes up as little space as possible. For your convenience, we suggest making several versions of your file with varying amounts of compression and then picking the file with the smallest size and the best quality.

In order to compress multiple files, you first need to combine the PDFs. You can later compress the combined file to ensure that it will meet any email attachment requirements.

Even if you end up accidentally choosing high compression settings, you can rest assured that PDF Extra Desktop will keep your original file intact. This way, you can restart the process as many times as needed until you are satisfied with the result.

There are plenty of online and offline tools that allow you to compress PDFs and make them easier to share in different ways. However, most of these free online compressors do not allow any level of compression customization, which means you don't have any control over the extent to which the file is reduced.

Keep in mind that security is equally important when working with online tools. With offline PDF compressors, such as PDF Extra, you work locally on your desktop and so security is not an issue. With PDF Extra's compression, you can also decide how much reduction you want to apply to the embedded images.