Compress PDF
Smaller PDFs with photos or scans.
Free tool · on your device
GUIDE · PDF
How to compress a PDF to send by email
Open the free Compress PDF tool, add the document and choose the level: “Recommended” for most files, “Strong (smallest)” if it still does not fit in the email. Press “Compress PDF” and you will see the size before and after. If it is still large, split it into parts with Split PDF.
Open Compress PDFFree with an account, no subscription or watermark. Your files never leave your device.
STEP BY STEP
5 steps
Add your PDFs
Up to 5 PDFs without a password at once.
Choose the level
“Light (best quality)”, “Recommended” or “Strong (smallest)”. The stronger it is, the smaller the photos and the less detail they keep.
Compress and check
Press “Compress PDF” and check the size before and after for each file; download it or get them all in a ZIP.
TOOLS IN THIS GUIDE
What you will use
Split PDF
Split by ranges or extract pages.
Free tool · on your device
JPG and images to PDF
Combine JPG, PNG or WebP into one PDF.
Free tool · on your device
TIPS
To get it right
Tip 1
Gmail accepts attachments up to 25 MB per message; other email services set different limits, so check yours before sending.
Tip 2
If you are making the PDF from photos, choose the “Light (smaller file)” quality in JPG to PDF and it will be small from the start.
Tip 3
A text-only PDF is already small and barely shrinks: photos and scans are what make PDFs heavy.
Compress a PDF for email: common questions
Why did my PDF barely shrink?
The tool only recompresses the JPEG photos inside, in colour or greyscale, which is how photos and many scans are usually stored. If your PDF is mostly text, or its scans are pure black and white or other non-JPEG images, it barely shrinks; if it does not shrink at all, you get the original back.
Does the text look worse?
No. Text, fonts, drawings and non-JPEG images are not touched; only JPEG photos are saved at a lower resolution and quality, depending on the level.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. It is compressed inside your browser and not sent to any server.
Is it free?
Yes. The free tools in this guide run in your browser and add no watermark. Tools that create files come with 30 welcome uses on a free account, then cost 1 credit per use; tools that show the result on screen have no usage cap. You can try them before signing up; to download the result or keep using them we ask for a free account, with no subscription.