Compress PDF

The Compress PDF tool trims PDF file size by stripping document metadata and re-saving with packed object streams — entirely in the browser with pdf-lib. Two toggles control the pass: "Strip metadata" clears the title, author, subject, keywords, producer, and creator entries, while "Pack objects into compressed object streams" rewrites the file so many small objects share compressed containers. Both are on by default and flagged as recommended. After running Compress, a stats row shows the original size, the compressed size, bytes saved, and the savings percentage; the download button then saves <name>-compressed.pdf. Honesty is built into the design: an alert explains up front that pdf-lib cannot recompress embedded images or downsample fonts, so image-heavy PDFs may barely shrink — and if the re-save adds structural overhead, a "No savings" warning appears with the delta. That candor makes the tool trustworthy. Use it for text-heavy documents, exported reports, and files bloated with duplicated or unused objects, and pair it with a dedicated image compressor when scans dominate the byte count.

1. 1

   Click "Choose PDF" or drop a file; the page count and original size load immediately.

2. 2

   Leave "Strip metadata" on to clear title, author, and other entries.

3. 3

   Leave "Pack objects into compressed object streams" on for the biggest wins.

4. 4

   Click "Compress" and read the Original, Compressed, Saved, and Savings stats.

5. 5

   Click "Download compressed" to save <name>-compressed.pdf.

• Shrinking text-heavy exported reports before emailing them under attachment limits.
• Removing author and company names from metadata before publishing documents publicly.
• Reducing repository bloat when committing PDFs generated by CI pipelines.
• Preparing court or tender submissions with strict file size ceilings.
• Cleaning metadata from client deliverables to avoid leaking internal tool names.
• Batch-packing PDFs with many small objects that serialize inefficiently.

• Read the "Limited compression" alert first — image-heavy PDFs will not shrink much.
• Keep both toggles on; they are marked recommended for a reason.
• If the "No savings" alert appears, accept the result and use Ghostscript for image-based compression instead.
• Compress a copy and compare page renders, since re-saving rewrites the file structure.
• Use metadata stripping as a privacy step, not just a size step.

• Watch the Savings stat — green means the pass actually helped.
• Run compression twice with different toggle combos to see each option's effect.
• Treat metadata stripping as your document-redaction first step.
• For scans and photos, expect little — the tool says so itself.