Compress PDF
Make a PDF smaller without uploading it. Embedded photos are recompressed and scanned pages are optimized — text stays selectable where it can — all in your browser.
- 🔒 100% private — no uploads
- 🆓 Free, no watermark
- 📱 Works on any device
How to compress
- 1
Add your PDF
Drop a PDF onto the tool, or click to browse. It’s read straight into your browser — never uploaded to a server.
- 2
Pick a compression level
Choose “Smaller file” for the biggest savings or “Higher quality” to stay crisp. The tool recompresses embedded images and flattens scanned pages to shrink the file.
- 3
Download the smaller PDF
Click “Compress”, then download. You’ll see exactly how much smaller it got — and if a PDF is already optimized, the original is kept so you never get a bigger file.
Why use Compress PDF?
100% private
Your PDFs are processed entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored or seen by anyone — even large or confidential documents stay on your device.
No limits, no watermark
No page caps, no daily limits, no sign-up, and never a watermark — unlike most online PDF tools.
Visual page editing
See every page as a thumbnail. Drag to reorder, rotate with one click, or delete the pages you don’t want — then download.
Works on any device
No install and no account. It runs in any modern browser on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android or iPhone.
Shrink PDFs without uploading them
Most “compress PDF” websites upload your document to their servers — a problem for contracts, statements, ID scans and anything confidential. LocalTools does it entirely in your browser with JavaScript, so the file never leaves your device. There are no page caps and no daily limits.
Keeps text where it can, rasterizes scans
On normal pages the tool recompresses the embedded photos and leaves the text and vector graphics untouched, so the result stays selectable and searchable. Pages that are essentially scans — little or no real text — are re-rendered as an optimized image, which is usually where the biggest savings come from. The largest reductions are on scanned documents and photo-heavy PDFs; a PDF that is already pure text and well-optimized may not shrink, and the tool will tell you so rather than hand back a larger file.
Guides & explanations
A 40 MB PDF is almost never 40 MB of text. Where the size really comes from, which compression tricks work, and what you give up with each one.
Read the guide →What “Sign PDF” actually does, the difference between a picture of a signature and a cryptographic signature, why self-signed certs look untrusted, and what survives when you email the file.
Read the guide →Layout, required details, tax/VAT handling, payment terms, and the small things that make the difference between “I’ll get to it” and “paid today”. All in the browser, no account needed.
Read the guide →Frequently asked questions
Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?
No. Every page is read, rearranged and written entirely in your browser. Your PDF never leaves your device, so it works even offline once the page has loaded — ideal for confidential documents.
How much smaller will my PDF get?
It depends on the file. Scanned documents and PDFs full of high-resolution photos often shrink dramatically; a PDF that is mostly text may already be small and barely change. If compressing wouldn’t make it smaller, the tool keeps your original.
Will the text still be selectable?
On normal text pages, yes — only the embedded images are recompressed, so text and vector graphics stay selectable and searchable. Pages that are pure scans (no real text) are rasterized to an image to save space.
Are bookmarks and form fields kept?
Text, images and links on a page are kept. Document-level extras may not survive: bookmarks/outline and metadata (title, author) are dropped, and interactive form fields become static rather than fillable. Scanned pages are flattened to an image. If you need a fillable form or the outline preserved, compress before adding them, or keep your original.
Can it compress a password-protected PDF?
If a PDF needs a password just to open, it can’t be read in your browser, so it can’t be compressed. A PDF that opens but is encrypted is flattened to images (its text becomes un-selectable) so the result is never corrupted. For best results, remove protection first.
Is there a file size limit?
There’s no fixed limit. Because everything runs on your own device, the practical ceiling is your device’s memory — most documents compress in seconds.