Compress PDF to 2MB

What reaching 2 MB changes in a PDF

Set 2 MB 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 while that is enough to reach the target. Ask for a size downsampling cannot reach and the pages are rendered to images instead, which makes the size but ends the text layer.

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. 2 files a day at up to 50 MB each, sent singly or together; signing in is free and raises each file to 100 MB.

Compressing a multi-page bundle

1. 1

   Assemble the full bundle first

   Merge every page into the single PDF you intend to submit before compressing anything. Shrinking the parts separately and joining them afterwards spends the allowance twice and leaves you no control over the total.

2. 2

   Count the pages

   Twenty to thirty scanned pages is what this target is sized for. Under about ten pages, the 1 MB target produces a file that looks the same and goes up faster.

3. 3

   Inspect the heaviest pages afterwards

   Confirm the page count came through intact, then look closely at the pages carrying a photograph, a rubber stamp or a coloured seal. Those are where a per-page budget shows its limits, long before a page of typing does.

The target for a bundle rather than a single sheet

2 MB is the cap on the uploads that arrive as a set. GST registration wants an authorised signatory bundle, an RTI application carries its supporting attachments, a scanned lease deed runs to twenty pages, and an identity proof compilation gathers whatever the office listed. Each of them has to go up as one PDF, and 2 MB is where that one PDF is expected to land.

How far two megabytes stretches across thirty pages

2 MB is the measured practical ceiling for a 20 to 30 page scanned document set. That is what the number means in practice: not generous headroom, but the point at which a bundle of that length stays legible once the allowance is divided among its pages.

Division is the thing to keep in mind. A single page handed a 2 MB budget is luxurious. Thirty pages sharing it are each working with a fraction, which is why a bundle behaves so differently from the individual documents inside it. The page count, not the target, is usually what decides how the result looks.

Where the weight in a bundle actually comes from

Between 70 and 95 percent of a PDF's size is its embedded images. In a mixed bundle that means the scanned identity pages, the photographed signature and the stamped annexures are carrying nearly all of the weight, while the typed and digitally generated pages cost almost nothing.

A ten-page text-only PDF weighs 19 KB in total before any compression. Pages like that are effectively free inside your 2 MB. So if a bundle will not fit, the pages to reconsider, rescan or move into a second file are the scanned ones, never the typed ones.

Short documents belong on a different target

A three-page 300 DPI scan that started at 13.2 MB already arrives at 724 KB when aimed at 1 MB, with page detail close to the original. Pointing the same file at 2 MB adds no visible quality, because there was nothing left to recover. It only makes the upload slower.

Anything under roughly ten pages is in that territory. Use the 1 MB target for it and keep this page for genuine bundles. And if the portal in front of you states 500 KB or 200 KB, compress to that figure directly rather than producing a 2 MB file and compressing it a second time.

Frequently asked questions