---
title: "Make a PDF smaller"
description: "Reduce a PDF's file size for email or upload limits. Compare Light (in your browser) with Balanced and Strong (on our servers) and download the one you like."
url: https://help.pdfbetter.com/convert-organize/compress-pdf-file-size/
collection: "Converting & organizing"
section: "Compress, protect & compare"
updated: 2026-10-18
publisher: "PDFBetter (AI Generated Inc.)"
---

# Make a PDF smaller

> Open [Compress PDF](https://pdfbetter.com/tools/compress-pdf/) and drop the file. **Light** runs in your browser straight away; click **Try balanced** or **Try strong** to compress on our servers. Compare the measured sizes and click **Download** on the one you want.

- Counts toward: Office & advanced conversions

Do it in PDFBetter: https://pdfbetter.com/app/tools/

1. **Upload the PDF**: Open Compress PDF and drop the file. Its original size and page count are shown.
2. **Check Light first**: Light starts on its own, in your browser. It re-encodes oversized images at high quality (150 DPI) and tidies the file structure. Nothing is uploaded and it's free.
3. **Try a server level if needed**: Click **Try balanced** (images down to about 110 DPI, still clear on screen and in print) or **Try strong** (about 72 DPI with stronger JPEG compression; photos look soft when zoomed or printed).
4. **Download the best result**: Each level shows the measured size and the saving. Click **Download** on the one you want.

| Level | Where it runs | Counts toward |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Light | In your browser | Nothing |
| Balanced | On our servers | One Office & advanced conversion |
| Strong | On our servers | One Office & advanced conversion |

| Per month | No account | Free | Pro | Business |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Office & advanced conversions | 2 | 10 | 500 | 2,000 |

"Unlimited" is subject to fair use; "—" means not included.

Text stays sharp at every level; scanned pages shrink the most. If none of the levels makes a real difference, the tool says the PDF is already well optimized, and you should keep your original.

### My PDF barely got smaller.

Files that are mostly text, or already compressed, have little left to remove. Splitting the file is the other option: see [Split a PDF or extract pages](https://help.pdfbetter.com/convert-organize/split-pdf-extract-pages/).

### My PDF is password-protected.

You're asked for the password before compressing. The compressed copy is saved without it; [password-protect it again](https://help.pdfbetter.com/privacy-security/password-protect-pdf/) afterwards if you need to.

### Can I compress without an account?

Yes. Light is always free; the server levels include 2 tries without an account.

## Related articles

- [Which tools run in your browser and which use our servers](https://help.pdfbetter.com/convert-organize/browser-vs-server-tools.md): Merge, split, rotate, organize, images ↔ PDF, protect, unlock, sanitize and compare run in your browser: nothing is uploaded and they download free without an account. Office conversions, compression beyond Light, OCR and PDF/A run on our servers and count toward a monthly allowance.
- [Split a PDF or extract pages](https://help.pdfbetter.com/convert-organize/split-pdf-extract-pages.md): Open Split PDF, choose Custom ranges, Every N pages, Each page or By file size, and click Split PDF. To pull a few pages into one new file, use Extract pages instead. Both run in your browser.
- [Password-protect or unlock a PDF](https://help.pdfbetter.com/privacy-security/password-protect-pdf.md): Use Protect PDF: choose Require a password to open, set the Open password, pick what's allowed and click Protect PDF. Unlock PDF removes a password you know. Both run in your browser, and nobody at PDFBetter can recover a forgotten password.
- [Upload fails or stalls, and file size and page limits](https://help.pdfbetter.com/troubleshooting/upload-fails-file-size-limits.md): Most failed uploads are a dropped connection: click Retry in the Uploads tray. If the message says the file is too large or has too many pages, you've hit your plan's limit: 50 MB and 500 pages per document on Free.
- [Email a PDF to someone from PDFBetter](https://help.pdfbetter.com/sharing/email-pdf-from-pdfbetter.md): Click Done → Share, open the Email PDF tab, enter up to 10 addresses in To, add a subject and message if you like, and click Send PDF. Each recipient counts as one of your plan's emails sent with documents.

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Source: https://help.pdfbetter.com/convert-organize/compress-pdf-file-size/ · PDFBetter Help Center · Last checked against the product 2026-10-18. Questions: support@pdfbetter.com