Apchukso ~/pdf● No upload · No daily limits
Whether it's a scan or a PDF packed with photos, we'll reduce your PDF file size to just right for viewing on screen. The engine is about 10MB, so the first run may take a few seconds to load.
Use it when you hit an email attachment limit (usually 20–25MB), when a government office or agency sets a PDF size limit for submissions, or when a scanned PDF is just too big.
Putting a PDF into a ZIP file barely shrinks it, because the photos and fonts inside are already stored compressed. We compared zipping the same PDFs with compressing them on the Recommended level.
| Original | Zipped | PDF compression (Recommended) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 government press-release PDFs | 2.74MB | 2.56MB (6.8% smaller) | 1.17MB (57% smaller) |
| 12-page PDF made with a converter app | 5.71MB | 3.77MB (33.9% smaller) | 1.71MB (70% smaller) |
We measured the ZIP sizes with Bandizip's default compression and ran PDF compression in Chrome on a PC in October 2026. There's no PDF software to install: you can shrink your file right here on this page.
Q. Which compression level should I choose?
If you're not sure, Recommended is enough. If you need to meet a submission size limit, choose "Fit a target size"; for documents you'll print, choose "Light." Strong sets photos in the PDF to 72dpi (for screens), Recommended to 150dpi, and Light to 300dpi (for print). In our own test with a roughly 490KB PDF containing photos, Strong cut the size by 74%, Recommended by 66%, and Light by 47%.
Q. My submission has to be 10MB or less. How do I make it fit?
Click "Fit a target size," choose 10MB, then add your PDF. If it's already 10MB or less, you get the original as is. If it's bigger, the resolution of the photos inside is lowered in the order 150dpi, 110dpi, 72dpi, 50dpi, stopping at the first step that gets it to 10MB or less, so quality isn't cut more than needed. 10MB is counted as 10,000,000 bytes, so the file stays under the limit however the recipient measures it. If it's still over at 50dpi, you get the smallest version we could make; in that case, split the pages with Split PDF and submit several files.
Q. Can I compress several PDFs at once?
Yes. Add several at once and they're compressed one after another. With 2 or more, you can download them all at once with "Download all as ZIP."
Q. Will it mess up the text?
No. Text and fonts stay as they are; only the images inside the PDF are recompressed.
Q. How much smaller will my PDF get?
Scans and photo-heavy PDFs usually shrink by 50–70%. PDFs that are mostly text may not shrink much.
Q. Does zipping a PDF reduce its size?
Only a little. When we zipped 3 official government press-release PDFs, 2.74MB became 2.56MB, just 6.8% smaller. The same PDFs on the Recommended level of PDF compression came out at 1.17MB, 57% smaller. To make a PDF much smaller, you need to lower the resolution of the photos inside, not change how it's packaged.
Q. Can it handle large PDFs?
Yes, as far as your browser's memory allows, but bigger files take longer.
Q. Does it work with password-protected PDFs?
Not while they're locked. Unlock the file first with Remove PDF password, then compress it. You'll need to know the password.
Q. How many times a day can I compress?
There's no limit. Many other online PDF tools cap free use at a few times a day, but with Apchukso all processing happens only in your browser, so there's no load on our servers. You can use it free, as often as you like.
Q. What usually makes a PDF so large?
Usually it's the images inside. If you compress photos before turning them into a PDF, you'll end up with a much lighter PDF than if you compress it afterward.