Compress PDF Under 1MB

One megabyte is the limit you meet most often with PDFs: job portals, council and school forms, insurance claims and plenty of email systems stop there. This page opens Compress PDF with its “Fit a size” setting already chosen and the limit set to 970 KB, which is under 1 MB however the website counts a megabyte.

In a PDF the big parts are usually photos and scanned pages, so that is what gets re-saved. The tool first tries its strongest setting to see whether 1 MB is reachable at all, then narrows down to the gentlest setting that still fits, so your pages look as good as the limit allows. It needs three tries at most. Text, fonts, links and drawings are left untouched, so writing stays sharp and searchable.

Some PDFs simply cannot get there. A long report that is mostly text and fonts has no photos to shrink, and the tool says so plainly instead of handing you a file that is still too big. If it gets close but not under, you see the smallest size it reached and can still download it. Everything happens in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded.

1. Tap “Choose a PDF” or drop one PDF on the box. Its pages and current size appear.
2. Check that “Fit a size” is picked and “At most” reads 970 KB. Change the number if your site gives a different limit.
3. Press “Compress PDF”. The button counts its tries while it works.
4. Read the result line: the new size and which setting got it there. Compare pages side by side, then press “Download PDF”.

• Starts in “Fit a size” mode with a 970 KB target (993,280 bytes, under both ways of counting 1 MB).
• Five settings from gentle to strong; it keeps the gentlest one that fits, in three tries at most.
• Re-saves only the photos and scans; text, fonts, vector drawings and links stay exactly as they were.
• Honest results: a clear message when a PDF is text-only or already compact, and the smallest size reached when it comes close but not under.
• Side-by-side page comparison of the original and the smaller copy before you download.
• Light, Recommended and Strong are still one tap away, as is any other size in KB or MB.

• A scanned document shrinks the most. Scanning in greyscale rather than colour helps before you even start.
• If a PDF will not go under 1 MB, split it with Split PDF and send it in two parts, or remove pages nobody needs.
• A photo is kept as it was when re-saving it would save less than 10%, so already-small images are not blurred for nothing.
• Password-protected PDFs need unlocking first (Unlock PDF), with the password.
• If a form allows 2 MB, type 1.9 MB: a gentler setting will keep photos sharper.