PDF files quickly reach giant proportions. Fortunately, many tools tin can chop an oversized PDF down to something easier to share online. Next fourth dimension you hit a PDF file size limit, they'll bail you out.

We've compiled the best tools to shrink a PDF file and make information technology smaller into four general categories.

1. Adobe Acrobat Pro

If you have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer, there's a tool inside the application called "PDF Optimizer". This is one of the all-time and easiest ways to shrink a PDF document.

To get to this, open your PDF in Acrobat, click Tools > Optimize PDF. A toolbar with a few options will appear only above the PDF.

If yous click Reduce File Size, yous can choose to reduce a single or multiple files. Next, you'll choose the file location and proper name. In one case you click Salve, Acrobat will use default settings to your file to effort to reduce its size.

If y'all click Advanced Optimization, y'all'll accept more than options to ensure yous maintain the quality you need. To help with this, in the Advanced Optimization window, click Audit Space Usage, and you'll be able to see how much infinite each kind of element is taking upwardly within the file.

Using default setting, our sample file shrunk from 11,775KB to merely 212KB, making Adobe Acrobat Pro ane of the nigh constructive PDF compressor in this listing. It's a paid tool, after all, but there was 1 free tool that performed improve with default settings. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC will gear up yous back $fourteen.99 per calendar month, but you can get a 7-twenty-four hour period complimentary trial.

NeeviaPDF

If you desire more control over the quality of your compressed PDF, endeavour DocuPub's NeeviaPDF (for files less than 24 MB in size).

To keep things simple, y'all can choose ane of the presets, which range from low compression (for a higher image quality) to maximum compression (for a lower image quality). Y'all're also given the selection to discard sure elements from inside your PDF. This includes things like forms, annotations, and page labels, which can unnecessarily increase the size of the file.

Our sample PDF lost 98% of its size, clocking in at only 203KB, down from 11,775KB. This was the smallest we achieved in our tests, and the result looked only fine. How much of the original PDF you lot desire to discard depends on how much space you really need to salvage.

Windows 10 finally includes an option to print-to-PDF. However, advanced features, similar tweaking the quality and size of a certificate, are not function of this feature. Meanwhile, many PDF printers let you cull quality and compression settings, which tin profoundly influence the size of your PDF files.

Note that the tools highlighted below crave GhostScript to view and handle PDFs.

FreePDF

FreePDF is a archetype PDF printer, and we highlight information technology hither because it allows you to create your own pinch profiles. Once installed (remember that you need GhostScript), you'll find information technology listed as part of your Windows printers.

To reduce the size of a PDF certificate with FreePDF, open it, printing Ctrl + P to launch the print dialog, choose FreePDF as your printer, click OK, and wait for the FreePDF dialog to pop up. Here, you can choose from three preset PDF profiles, including eBook, High Quality, and Medium Quality.

To create a custom PDF profile, click Edit Configuration in the height right, choose Profiles, click New, and customize the options bachelor in the Profile editor window. You can change the general quality of your PDF, adjust the default resolution for pictures inside a PDF, or add a watermark to your PDFs.

The default medium quality contour compressed a scanned PDF certificate of 10 MB to a 1.7 MB PDF file with an adequate loss in quality.

4Dots Free PDF Compress

This freeware application enables you to shrink unmarried or multiple PDFs in one fell swoop. You lot're also able to compress unabridged folders of PDFs with just a few clicks of the mouse, even if the PDFs are password protected.

Once you've selected which files you want to compress (drag and drop is supported), select the location where y'all desire the smaller files to exist saved. You tin can overwrite the old file or save a re-create. Hitting Compress and the tool will do all the piece of work for you. Our five sample PDFs took a few minutes to compress and came out eleven.5MB or 29.5% smaller.

Complimentary PDF Compressor

This completely free piece of software is also extremely simple to utilise. Select the file you want to shrink, hit Compress, then save the smaller file.

In add-on, yous can choose from v levels of pinch, depending on how you lot want to use the file:

  • Depression resolution (72 dpi), ideal for screen-view simply
  • Medium resolution (150 dpi), ideal for an ebook
  • High resolution (300 dpi), platonic for press
  • Prepress (300 dpi), ideal for prepress, including colour preserving
  • Default, ideal for a wide variety of uses

Our single sample file was done in less than a minute and, due to choosing the maximum compression level, came out at simply 276KB, down from eleven,775KB. The final image quality was perfectly fine.

IrfanView

IrfanView is a lightweight and feature-rich image viewer for Windows. Information technology comes with a range of plugins that plow it into a versatile image editing tool, for case, to convert images to unlike file types, add watermarks to your photos, and batch process images. Information technology also has PDF printing qualities, though non in the archetype sense.

Earlier you lot can view PDF files with IrfanView, you need to install GhostScript. And then, when y'all attempt to Save your oversized PDF as a new and smaller PDF file, yous'll run across a PDF Settings window side by side to your Save PDF As... dialog. Under General, you might have to set the Preview of PDF during save operation to not needed, so you lot can select settings immediately. Then you can adjust pinch settings as seen below.

In my test, I chose medium quality for all epitome types and could reduce the size of a 10 MB scanned PDF document to less than 1 MB. The result was visibly blurred, but perfectly legible.

PDF Filter

If you routinely update your Mac's operating system, you should be able to shrink your PDF without installing any new apps. This is a absurd feature in OS X that many people don't know near.

Outset, open your PDF in preview. Commonly yous tin just double-click the file, merely if you take a PDF reader such every bit Adobe Reader installed, you'll desire to correct-click > Open With > Preview). And then click File >Export, and in the Quartz Filter drop-downward box, select Reduce File Size.

This only works with large PDF files. Try doing this with a very pocket-sized PDF (less than a few MB), and these could actually increase in size.

PDF Squeezer

Other than the unproblematic process above, there really isn't much selection for reputable, gratuitous PDF compression tools for Mac users. If you desire to control the output quality, etc. of your compressed PDFs, your best bet is to download an app such equally PDF Squeezer ($5.99).

This is a relatively depression-price app that enables you lot to choose from various predefined compression settings, or to choose your own. You tin can besides batch process multiple files at one time (including encrypted files).

How Do You Brand a PDF Smaller?

This is only the start of what you can do with your PDFs. From reading the text within images and scanning files for malware to converting PDFs to other formats and unlocking password-protected PDFs, yous can find the perfect PDF tool to help you.

Whether you lot're dealing with interactive PDFs or large ebooks, PDFs tin cease up being surprisingly large. Each of the tools in a higher place should assistance with shrinking those files to a much more manageable size.

Demand to edit your PDFs, merely don't desire to install software? Try these online PDF editors and annotation tools.

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Virtually The Writer

Rob Nightingale (269 Articles Published)

Rob Nightingale has a degree in Philosophy from the University of York, United kingdom. He has worked equally a social media manager and consultant for over five years, while giving workshops in several countries. For the past two years, Rob has as well been a technology writer, and is MakeUseOf'southward Social Media Director, and Newsletter Editor. You'll usually observe him traveling the world, learning video editing, and experimenting with photography.

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