Compress PDF on Mac

Choose how small, drop the PDF in, download the lighter file. Works in any browser on your Mac, with a level for every job, not one fixed filter.

Free to use
Works on any device
Deleted after processing

Text stays vector-sharp
Sized for email
Every page kept
The original is untouched

PDF

Choose the PDF on your Mac to make smaller

Text stays sharp at every level · your upload is deleted as soon as the smaller file is built

Drag & drop file here

or choose a file from your device

Everything Compress PDF can do

Make a PDF file lighter for email, upload or storage by re-encoding the images inside it, while every page stays. Free, in your browser.

How hard it squeezes

Light: barely touches image quality, so the document stays print-ready
Recommended: clearly smaller, still good on screen and on paper
Strong: the smallest result, made for photo-heavy documents
To a size: 100 KB, 200 KB, 500 KB, 1 MB or a size you type
Only the images inside are resampled

What stays sharp

Text stays vector text, not a picture of text
Fonts stay embedded, so it opens the same everywhere
Line art and diagrams keep their clean edges
Every page kept, and the page count stays the same
Page size, orientation and order all unchanged

The size you end up with

The before and after size, both shown on the result screen
The percentage saved, measured from the two real files
When a size limit cannot be reached, the smallest size it could make, said plainly
Your original file stays exactly as it is on your computer
One compressed PDF to download, named after your document

How it works

Compress PDF on Mac in three steps

Drag the PDF in from Finder

Or click the box and pick it. One file at a time.

Recommended is chosen

Light for print, Strong for the smallest file, or To a size to type the limit you were given.

Download

The result shows the new size next to the old one. The file goes to your Downloads folder.

Step by step

Compress PDF on Mac: a visual walkthrough

Compressing on a Mac, photographed on this page with a one-page color scan of a letter: the box, the four ways to compress, and the result with its before and after sizes.

Bring the PDF over from Finder
Drag the file from a Finder window or the desktop onto the box, or click the box to browse. Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Edge all show the same page.
Pick how hard to compress
The first page of your PDF shows next to four choices. Recommended is highlighted; Light keeps print quality, Strong goes smallest, and To a size takes the limit a form gave you.
Compare the sizes, then download
After Compress PDF the result shows the old size, the new size and the share saved. Download puts the smaller copy in your Downloads folder with compressed added to its name.

Our files at each level

We compressed our own scans at all three levels and opened every result to read its size and the resolution of its pictures. Measured on October 22, 2026.

File	Original	Light	Recommended	Strong
1-page color scan	1.29 MB	1.29 MB (300 DPI kept)	134 KB (150 DPI)	50 KB (72 DPI)
3-page gray scan	4.53 MB	4.53 MB (300 DPI kept)	429 KB (150 DPI)	158 KB (72 DPI)
1-page scan of a table	1.36 MB	1.36 MB (300 DPI kept)	96 KB (150 DPI)	33 KB (72 DPI)
10-page color scan	12.75 MB	12.75 MB (300 DPI kept)	1.31 MB (150 DPI)	470 KB (72 DPI)
3-page typed letter	29.8 KB	30.2 KB	27.3 KB	27.3 KB

Recommended made every one of these scans about 90% smaller, and at 100 DPI on screen not a single pixel of the first page changed noticeably. Strong saved another 60 to 65% but softened letters: about 5% of pixels changed, enough to see when you zoom in.

A typed letter has almost nothing to compress: it is mostly fonts. Light even made it 0.4 KB bigger, because the file is rewritten; the tool then tells you so and you can keep your original.

Checked again on 24 October

A new 3-page gray scan with more grain in the paper, dropped on this page in a 1366 pixel window as it opens (Recommended) and compressed with the button. We opened the download to read the picture resolution and compared page 1 with the original. Measured on October 24, 2026.

File	Original	Recommended	Pictures	Visible change	Ready in
3-page gray scan, grainy paper	2.57 MB	577 KB (78% smaller)	150 DPI	0% of pixels	5.7 s

Grain and speckle are detail too, so a noisy scan keeps more bytes than a clean one: 78% saved here against about 90% for the cleaner scans above. Text pages and page count were unchanged.

Preview's Reduce File Size, and when it is enough

macOS can shrink a PDF on its own: in Preview, choose File, Export, and set Quartz Filter to Reduce File Size. It is quick, and for a single photo it can be fine. But the filter has one fixed strength you cannot adjust, it applies to everything in the file the same way, and there is no way to ask for a particular size.

Here you choose: Light when the file must still print well, Recommended for email and most upload forms, Strong when only the smallest file will do, or To a size when a form gives you an exact limit.

Which level for which job

Pick by where the file is going:

Printing, or a document someone will zoom into: Light. It only trims what does not show.
Email, sharing, most portals: Recommended. Pictures are kept at 150 DPI, sharp on any screen and fine on paper.
A strict upload limit or a very long scan: Strong. Pictures go to 72 DPI; text in scans stays readable but soft.
A form that says 2 MB or 500 KB: To a size, and type the number.

If the file barely shrinks

A PDF made from a word processor is mostly text and fonts, which do not compress further; ours stayed at 27 to 30 KB whatever the level. Big files are almost always big because of pictures: scans, photos or screenshots. If a file full of pictures does not shrink, it has probably been compressed already. Splitting it, or removing pages you do not need, is then the way to make it smaller.

Frequently asked questions about Compress PDF on Mac

How do I make a PDF smaller on a Mac?

Open this page in Safari or any browser, drop the PDF in, keep Recommended or choose another level, and download the smaller file. It goes to your Downloads folder.

Is this better than Preview's Reduce File Size?

It gives you a choice. Preview's filter has one fixed strength; here you pick Light, Recommended, Strong, or an exact size limit, and the result shows how much was saved.

Will the text get blurry?

Real text, the kind you can select, stays exactly as sharp at every level. Text inside a scan is a picture: it stays crisp on Recommended and turns soft on Strong.

Is my file uploaded?

Yes, compression runs on our server. The file travels over an encrypted connection and is deleted as soon as the smaller copy is built.

Why did my PDF get bigger?

Text-only PDFs have nothing left to compress and can grow slightly when rewritten. The result screen says so, and you simply keep your original.

Does it work in Safari?

Yes. It works the same in Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Edge, because the compressing is done on our server, not by your Mac.