Open the working compress pdf tool

Compress a scanned PDF in your browser

Scanned PDFs are often image-heavy, so raster compression can help more than structural rewriting. PrivyPDF lets you compare the result locally, but it does not perform OCR.

Choose a mode for scans

Balanced or Light compression is a useful first test for scanned pages. Strong compression can reduce size further, but inspect signatures, stamps, handwriting, and small characters.

Compression is not OCR

The tool changes the PDF representation; it does not recognize text in scanned images. Use an OCR workflow separately when searchable text is required.

Keep an original copy

Raster modes can remove selectable text, annotations, links, bookmarks, and form fields. Keep the source scan until the result has been checked.

Related PDF questions

Nearby questions people often ask when choosing a private browser-based workflow: