What reaching 200 KB changes in a PDF

Set 200 KB as the target and the engine works down to it in steps, stopping at the first result that fits rather than padding the file back out.

It is the pictures inside the PDF that shrink: they are downsampled a step at a time until the file fits. Text typed into the document stays text, so it remains selectable and sharp at any target.

Files are processed on our servers, not in your browser. The upload and the result are both permanently deleted within 1 hour, no backups and no copies kept.

No watermark, and no account needed to use it. 5 files a day at up to 50 MB each, sent singly or together; signing in is free and raises each file to 100 MB.

Hitting 200 KB without wrecking the scan

1. 1

   Find the exact number first

   Portals state their cap precisely, and it is often 200 KB rather than a round 250 or 500. Compress to the number on the form, not to a smaller one you assume is safer.

2. 2

   Upload the original, not a re-save

   Feed in the file as it came from the scanner or the issuing office. A copy that has already been through another compressor starts with detail missing, and this pass cannot put it back.

3. 3

   Compare against the source

   Open both files side by side at full zoom on the busiest page. Photographs and stamps degrade before text does, so judge the result on those rather than on a paragraph.

The 200 KB cap and why it is worth aiming at exactly

200 KB is the limit exam boards, admission portals and government form uploads reach for most often. It is also the target where the arithmetic turns in your favour: the gap between 150 KB and 200 KB is only 50 KB of allowance, but it is worth far more than that in what survives the compression.

Why 200 KB beats 150 KB by more than the gap suggests

An 8.9 MB photo-heavy PDF compresses to 181 KB against a 200 KB target. Aimed at 150 KB instead, the same file lands at 82 KB. The allowance grew by a third; the image data kept more than doubled.

That is not a quirk of one file. Compression works against a budget, and the last stretch below roughly 150 KB is where an encoder has to start discarding information it was previously only re-packing. If the form will take 200 KB, there is no reason to hand it something smaller.

When a smaller target costs you nothing

A scanned page of plain text behaves differently. A 13.2 MB three- page 300 DPI scan arrives at 96 KB whether you aim at 100 KB or 200 KB, because there is simply not enough image information in a page of type to fill the larger budget.

So if the document is a typed letter, a certificate without a photograph, or a printed statement, the 100 KB target produces a file that looks the same and uploads faster. Save the 200 KB target for anything carrying a photograph, a signature scan or a coloured seal.

What a 200 KB PDF will not do

It will not hold a multi-page colour photo album at readable quality. Two or three photographic pages is about the ceiling before the per-page budget gets thin enough to show in skin tones and flat backgrounds.

If the upload is genuinely a set of photographs rather than a document, and the portal insists on 200 KB, submit them as separate files rather than one PDF. Each then gets the full allowance instead of a share of it.

Frequently asked questions