Compress a PDF to a specific size

A search for compress PDF to 1 MB is asking for that number, not for a quality preset with a hopeful result. pdf compressor to 1 MB is the same request. Convert PDF to 1 MB is the same request when what you have is already a PDF. The tool does not convert the file into another format. It compresses it until the download is at or under the size you set.

Below 1 MB is not a separate tool. Pick 300 KB, or type a smaller number, including the 200 KB the home page starts on. 2 MB and 4 MB are the larger chips on this page. 3 MB is not a chip. Type it in Custom when that is the number you were given. Any other target in range works the same way: the unit is KB or MB, and the digits stay as you typed them when you switch units.

These sizes are not different products. A page for each number would repeat this explanation with one digit changed. Pick the chip, or type the digit. The passes underneath do not change.

Use the number you were given. A form, a mailbox bounce, or a person who said "under 1 MB" has already chosen. 1 MB is the chip to leave selected when the line you read was 1 MB or "below 1 MB" and you want a file that clears that line with room. 300 KB is the chip when the line was 300 KB. 2 MB and 4 MB cover the same kind of line at those sizes.

If nobody named a number, start with the tightest limit you actually know. A file under a small target also fits a larger one. A file you compressed only to 4 MB can still miss a 1 MB line. You can run the original again at the tighter size. You do not have to compress the already-compressed copy.

200 KB is the homepage default, so this page does not offer it as a chip. Open the PDF compressor when that is the size. Mailbox caps are a different problem. Gmail and Yahoo Mail publish 25 MB, Outlook and iCloud Mail publish 20 MB for a direct attachment, and many office systems stop at 10 MB or 5 MB. Those sizes, and the encoding that makes a message larger than the file, are on PDF too big to email. This page does not repeat them as chips.

The file you download is at or under the size you chose. If that size cannot be reached, pdfly tells you the smallest size it got to and does not give you a file that is still over the target. A PDF already under the target comes back as it is. Gentler passes stop at the first size that fits. Rasterizing turns pages into images. It runs last, and only if you allow it. There is no quality slider next to the size. The size is the control.

Acrobat's Reduce File Size command does not take the number either. It applies a preset and lets you read the result afterward. A preset can land under your line or miss it by a wide margin. When the requirement is a number, set the number here. Keep the original. The copy pdfly made is temporary.

You can upload a PDF up to 100 MB. More than 500 pages is rejected, and so is a password-protected PDF or a file pdfly cannot read. The target has to sit between 8 KB and 100 MB. The upload and the file pdfly makes are deleted within 1 hour. Download the result before you close the page.

Leave rasterizing off when someone else has to search, copy, or fill the text. The lighter passes clean the file, subset fonts, recompress images, and refry the PDF. Allow rasterizing only when the target is still out of reach and a picture of each page is acceptable. Words on a rasterized page cannot be selected or searched.

A very small target is more likely to need that last pass. 300 KB asks more of a photo-heavy file than 4 MB does. A text export with no pictures is often under 1 MB already, and it comes back unchanged. A scan is often images already, so shrinking those images is what moves the size. The page does not promise a ratio. It promises the size, or an honest floor.

1. Drop the PDF in the tool above.
2. Keep 1 MB, or choose 300 KB, 2 MB, 4 MB, or a custom size such as 3 MB.
3. Leave rasterizing off unless you need a smaller file more than selectable text.
4. Press Compress PDF, then download the file and use that download.

If the first target cannot be reached, read the floor before you change the file again. Turning rasterizing on is the next pass when pictures of the pages are good enough. Picking a larger chip is the next pass when the number you typed was tighter than the file can go. Sending the document as two PDFs is outside this page. It compresses one file to the size you set.