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Compress PDF Without Losing Quality

Most people don't need maximum compression — they need good compression that still looks professional. Our tool's Low and Medium modes strip metadata and reduce image resolution just enough to cut file size dramatically without any visible quality loss.

Compress PDF Without Losing Quality — Try it free

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How It Works

  1. 1

    Upload your PDF

    Drop in the document. Works best with mixed-content PDFs: those combining text, charts, and photos where maintaining readability is essential.

  2. 2

    Use Low or Medium compression mode

    Low compression strips metadata and optional content without touching images — typically 10–30% reduction with zero quality change. Medium reduces images to 150 DPI, which is imperceptibly sharper than most screens can display.

  3. 3

    Compare and download

    The preview shows the before/after file sizes. If the output looks identical in the preview, it will look identical in the real document.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum compression that has no visible effect?+
For on-screen PDFs, compressing images to 150 DPI is effectively lossless — human eyes cannot distinguish 150 DPI from 300 DPI on screens. This typically reduces a 10MB PDF to 2–3MB.
I need to print the PDF at high quality. How much can I compress it?+
For high-quality printing (brochures, legal documents), use Low compression only. This preserves 300 DPI images while still stripping unneeded metadata, typically giving 20–40% reduction.
Why does Medium compression look identical to the original?+
Most PDFs are created at 300 DPI for printing, but screens only display at 72–96 DPI. Reducing to 150 DPI removes data that was never visible on screen in the first place.

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