How Do I Compress a PDF to a Specific Size?

Why doesn't Compress PDF hit an exact size?

Compress PDF shrinks a file by a set amount, not to a target number. Its balanced, small and quality presets squeeze images and fonts by a fixed strength instead of aiming at a megabyte count.

• Balanced: a middle setting that trims file size while keeping most image detail, a safe default for everyday sharing.
• Small: pushes harder on images and fonts, usually the one to pick when a file still needs to shrink further.
• Quality: barely touches images, so the size drop is small but pictures and scans stay sharp.
• None of the three presets take a number, so you compress, check the result, and try a stronger preset if it's still too big.

How do I compress a PDF to an exact size?

Compress to Target Size takes a number you choose, from 0.1MB up to 100MB, and squeezes the file until it lands at or under that target.

• Pick your number first: a 2MB target for a job application, or 10MB for an email system with a tighter cap than usual.
• The tool squeezes images hardest, since pictures and scans hold far more data than plain text.
• If a PDF is already text only with no images, there's little left to cut, so a very small target may not be reachable.
• Check the size shown after it finishes, especially if the target was tight, before you send the file.

What size limit am I actually working with?

Gmail caps attachments at 25MB total, and some job portals cap resumes at only 5MB, so the right target depends on where you're sending the file.

• Gmail: 25MB total for all attachments in one message combined, not per file. Anything bigger gets turned into a Google Drive link instead.
• Google Workspace Enterprise Plus: raised to 50MB for sending and 70MB for receiving, starting February 2026.
• Job portals: Workable's own help page lists a 5MB limit for resume uploads and 20MB for other application attachments.
• When in doubt, check the upload page itself. Limits are set by each service, not by one single standard.

Why do some PDFs shrink more than others?

Scanned PDFs shrink the most because every page is really a picture, while text only PDFs have little left to compress once the fonts are already efficient.

• Scanned pages: often shrink by 50% to 80%, since the compressor can lower the image resolution without most readers noticing on screen.
• Adobe's own PDF guide gives 120ppi as a typical image resolution for a 300dpi printer, and even less for screen only use.
• Text and vector drawings: barely shrink, because the words and lines are stored as instructions, not pixels, so there's no resolution to lower.
• A PDF that's already been compressed once won't shrink much on a second pass. Most of the easy savings are gone after the first round.

What if compressing still leaves the file too big?

Split PDF breaks a large file into smaller ones you can send separately, which helps when a document is simply longer than the limit allows.

• Split by page range, like pages 1 to 10 in one file and 11 to 20 in another, then send each part on its own.
• Run Compress to Target Size again with a smaller number if the first result still doesn't fit.
• For a one-off big send, skip email and share a cloud link instead, since most cloud drives don't carry a 25MB cap.
• Remove pages you don't need to send. Fewer pages means less to compress in the first place.

Try the tools

Try it on your own file. The tools are free and you don't need an account.