Compress PDF to 20 MB
Bring a PDF under 20 MB without uploading it anywhere. The tool searches for the highest image quality that still fits.
Before you use this: This tool rasterises your PDF — text becomes part of an image and stops being selectable or searchable. That is the trade-off required to hit a hard size target. If you need live text, scan at a lower resolution instead.
Rendering pages and searching for the best quality that fits…
- Original
- —
- Compressed
- —
- Reduction
- —
- Pages
- —
How to use this tool
- Select your file, drag it onto the box above.
- Processing starts automatically — there is nothing to configure.
- Check the result panel, which shows the original size, the final size and the page count.
- Click Download to save it.
Twenty megabytes. Below most enterprise portal caps.
The specification
| Target file size | Under 20 MB |
|---|---|
| Method | Pages rendered and re-encoded as JPEG |
| Text | Becomes part of the image — no longer selectable |
| Page limit | 60 pages |
| Maximum input | 100 MB |
Why uploads get rejected
Meeting the size is only part of it. These are the failures that actually come up:
- The PDF is password-protected. Remove the password first — we cannot and will not bypass encryption.
- The document is already well optimised, so rasterising makes it larger rather than smaller. The tool tells you when this happens.
- The document is text-heavy and the target is very small, so the text becomes unreadable. Check the output before submitting it.
- The PDF has more than 60 pages, which would exhaust your browser tab’s memory.
How it works
Each page is rendered with pdf.js and re-encoded as a JPEG, then the pages are reassembled into a new PDF with pdf-lib. A binary search over image quality — and, if needed, render resolution — lands the result under your target.
The trade-off, stated plainly: this rasterises the document. Text becomes part of an image, so it is no longer selectable, searchable, or readable by automated systems. That is how most "compress to X KB" services work, and it is the only way to hit a hard size target in a browser — but it is a real cost. If you need the text to stay live, use a smaller scan resolution instead of compressing afterwards.
Who uses this
Upload portals, email attachments and application systems that enforce a hard per-file limit — where the document is rejected outright rather than being compressed for you.
Frequently asked questions
Does this keep my text selectable?
No. Hitting a hard size target from a browser requires rasterising the pages, which turns text into part of an image. If you need the text to stay live, use the merge, split or rotate tools — those are lossless — or rescan at a lower resolution.
What if it cannot reach 20 MB?
The tool lowers the render resolution and searches again. If it still cannot get there, it reports the smallest size it actually achieved rather than returning something over the limit.
Will the text still be readable?
At moderate targets, yes. At very small targets on a text-heavy document, possibly not — always open the result and check before you submit it.
Can I compress a password-protected PDF?
No. Remove the password in your PDF reader first. We do not offer any means of bypassing PDF encryption.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. Everything runs inside your browser on your own device. Your file is never transmitted and never stored by us. You can confirm this by opening your browser’s Network tab while you use the tool — you will see no upload request.
Is there a limit on how many files I can process?
No. There is no daily cap, no account, and no watermark. Because the work happens on your device rather than our servers, there is nothing for us to ration.
How do I reduce PDF file size to 20MB without losing text?
You cannot, if you compress it here — reaching a hard size target requires rasterising the pages, which turns text into part of an image. To keep the text live, re-export the source document with lower image quality, or rescan at 200–300 dpi in greyscale. Those preserve the text layer and often get you under 20MB on their own.
Why is my PDF so large in the first place?
Text takes almost no space — a twenty-page text-only PDF is usually under 300 KB. Size nearly always comes from scanned pages, images embedded at print resolution, or fonts that were not subset. Identifying which one applies tells you whether to compress or simply re-export.
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Your files stay on your device. This tool runs entirely in your browser. No file is uploaded, transmitted, or stored. You can verify this by opening your browser's Network tab while using the tool.
Disclaimer. Specifications published by exam boards, governments and platforms change without notice. We verify and date every specification on this site, but you should always confirm against the official source before submitting an application. See our full disclaimer.