Compress a PDF to 1 MB
Shrink a PDF to 1 MB or less for upload portals and email. Photos and scans are re-encoded at lower resolutions while the text stays selectable. In your browser.
Process locally
Files stay in this browser session. Closing or clearing releases them.
Choose files
PDF, up to 10
Drop files here, or
Adjust settings
Optional: Method, Compression, Target size
Run
Processes in this browser; cancel at any time
About this task
Upload portals for job applications, visas, universities and courts often cap PDFs at 1 MB. This page opens the PDF compressor with a 1 MB target: it re-encodes photos and scans at 150 DPI first and, if the file is still too large, searches the lower settings down to 60 DPI with lower JPEG quality, keeping the sharpest result that fits.
Only images are re-encoded, so text, links, bookmarks and form fields stay as they are and the text remains selectable. A PDF made mostly of text is often under 1 MB already; what makes PDFs large is scanned pages and photos. Up to 10 PDFs, 80 MB in total and 500 pages each, are compressed in your browser without uploading.
How to do it
- Choose or drop up to 10 PDF files.
- Keep “Method” on “Compress images, keep text” and “Target size (KB, 0 for no target)” at 1024, which is 1 MB.
- Select Run. The report shows the size before and after and the resolution that was used.
- Download the compressed PDF, or all of them as a ZIP.
Common questions
The report says TARGET_UNREACHED. What can I do?
Even 60 DPI was not enough with the text kept. Switch “Method” to “Rasterize every page (for scans)”, which redraws each page as one image and shares the 1 MB between the pages, or split the PDF and upload it in parts if the portal allows.
Is 1 MB here 1,000,000 bytes or 1,048,576?
The target is 1024 KB, which is 1,048,576 bytes. If a portal counts 1 MB as 1,000,000 bytes, enter 976 instead to be safe.
Will the compressed PDF still print clearly?
At 150 or 110 DPI, photos and scans print clearly for most documents. At 72 or 60 DPI, small print in scans can get hard to read, so check the pages before you submit them.
Other settings and related tasks
Need other settings? Open the full Compress PDF tool.