How to Reduce PDF File Size Without Losing Quality.
“You cannot upload files larger than 25 MB.” I got this error too many times when attaching PDFs in Gmail. Not only that, there are several other reasons for compressing a PDF file, such as when I need to upload some documents to a government website and it only accepts smaller PDFs.
If you were sending a regular JPEG image, most servers (like Facebook and WhatsApp) would automatically compress these files and reduce the quality. PDF uses a lossless compression technique that maintains the quality and key information needed to preserve the original formatting. Luckily, you can always compress the PDF. And so far there is no shortage of PDF compressors. I’ve listed five methods to help you compress your PDFs and make storing and sharing via email easier.
Read: Compress iPhone Videos for Email and Whatsapp
Before we move on to the various methods, let’s first understand how PDF compression works. So, PDF quality is measured in DPI (dots per inch), and for the best quality you need to choose the optimal size. Now, if I have a PDF file containing only general information that I will only view on my computer screen, 72 DPI is the minimum quality that the smallest PDF will deliver. E-books are typically around 100-150 dpi and are optimal for most text-based PDFs. We do not recommend using values over 200 dpi, as most computer screens still cannot see them. However, let’s take a look at the different methods of compressing PDFs using different applications and tools.
Reduce PDF file size without losing quality
First method: compress it into the source source
The first and most obvious solution is that you compress files first when creating PDFs. You get the ability to create PDFs on computers and most smartphones, and we rarely pay attention to size. Acrobat Reader has a built-in option to optimize your PDF for the web and automatically adjusts DPI for maximum efficiency.
Illustrator, Adobe Acrobat and many other applications offer PDF creation thanks to the versatility of the format when exporting the file to PDF format, which you can set options that can significantly reduce the file size so you don’t have to go back to the PDF compressor … You can reduce the size on save by following these steps. Just go to File Export Save for Web.
While this lets you control every aspect of the compression, you can’t always rely on it because you don’t always make PDFs and sometimes just end up with large PDFs.
Method 2: online tools
When you get the error that your PDF is too large for mail or this web portal, you’re just one tab away from compressing files. There are several online PDF compression sites that do it for free. You just need to find PDF compressor and click on the very first result, really, it’s that simple. I find PDFresizer.com ( also works on smartphones According to their privacy policy, all uploaded PDFs are automatically deleted after 1 hour, so you might not want to upload any private PDFs to their servers.
PDFresize achieved only 20% compression, but also increased the size of the smaller PDF that I was trying to compress and which was already compressed.
In general, it works well for small files where compression is easy, however you cannot really control the quality with this method and your data could be at risk. We only recommend this method when no other option is available.
Method 3: Use PDF Compressor applications
The next most convenient way to compress PDF is by using an application. It is well thought out code that gets the job done efficiently and without any problems. I’ve found a couple of apps for each platform and have compiled a list of the best for each category. These applications compress your PDFs and optimize them for various portals and websites.
For Windows, NXpowerlite is a free PDF compression software for Windows that can compress up to 95%. It achieved a compression rate of 72%, which is better than most of the available programs, although they claim a compression rate of up to 95%. 72% is not bad and actually saves a lot of data when there are too many files to compress.
If you are a Mac user, you don’t need to download third party apps. To compress a PDF on Mac, you can use the built-in preview button. Start by making a copy of your PDF (the document will replace the original), then open the PDF in Preview Mode, then go to File Export from the Quartz Filter drop-down menu, select Reduce File Size. “And click the” Save “button.
For smartphones, Compress PDF ranks first among mobile tools. This is the best app for Android and iOS combined. It instantly compresses your PDFs and lets you share them via email, WhatsApp, and the cloud.
Fourth method: compress multiple PDF files
If you are working on multiple projects and need to compress a batch of files. Instead of compressing each file individually, you can zip all files and compress the entire folder. The files will be compressed significantly without loss of data when compressed. You can also password protect the Zip archive.
Also Read: Try These WinRAR Alternatives for Mac
While the PDF itself may be password protected, it makes sense to lock the entire building rather than individual rooms. Windows and Mac have built-in Zip archiving tools, but more advanced tools are available on the Internet. Rarzilla, WinRar and 7-zip are some of the most popular archiving tools available that compress your files with ease.
Although these tools are available on Windows and Mac, there are many Android and iOS applications.
iZip works best on iOS and WinZip on Android.
I compressed a bunch of PDFs and the size was 20MB before. When compressing files with a ZIP archiver, the files are compressed into a single file of about 16MB, which is not much, but you will get comparatively faster downloads than downloading 20 separate Pdf files.
Fifth method: Finally, check for repeatability
I shouldn’t even call it a method, it’s just that sometimes when creating a PDF, we insert the same file multiple times, which in turn increases the size of the PDF. Check your file for redundancy and useless information that might be taking up space in your file.
While this saves you the need to use other methods, it doesn’t make any significant changes
What is the best way to reduce PDF file size?
There are always several ways to solve a problem, but the most common solution is to search twice. Method 5 is to eliminate redundancy. While you can always use the online tools, I don’t rely on this due to their sketchy interface, although some of them are really good. I would advise, if you are creating documents, use Method 1 to compress files or you can use applications designed specifically for this purpose. Let us know your preferred compression method.