PDFs are relatively good at maintaining the formatting of a document regardless of the machine used. But if they contain high-resolution images or graphics or vast amounts of text, they can sometimes become enormous in file size, which makes them unwieldy to email and difficult to upload or store. The solution is through the compressing of PDF files to reduce their size without compromising the quality of the resulting file.
We will be discussing all you need to know: from how to compress PDF files through the reasons for compressing your PDF files to what tools you can use. That way, you’ll be able to compress any PDF at the end of this article so it’s easier to share and store.
PDFs have been highly used just because the files could be shared without losing any formatting of files. However, the best thing about them is that when they become full of multimedia, complexly formatted text, or have embedded fonts in them, it just bloats the size. But here’s why you might need to compress a PDF file:
Most email services and file-sharing services limit the size of the file. Compression of PDFs facilitates sending such files via email or uploading cloud storage systems. For example, an email service like Gmail limits attachment sizes; attachments have a maximum limit of 25MB. Thus, large PDF files easily cross the threshold barrier size. Compression improves the uploading and downloading effectiveness without losing much detail in the image.
Instead of having to wait sometimes endlessly long times over uploading or downloading big PDF files, especially if your internet is slow, compressing PDFs helps reduce waiting times as well as facilitates the transfer of this file much faster and more convenient for both the sender and receiver.
Compressing PDF files saves you storage space both on your hard drive or in the cloud and even on your mobile device. Compression is a good solution to avoid running out of space, particularly when you are handling huge files and when dealing with PDFs daily.
If you embed PDFs in your websites, the size of the files determines whether a site loads quickly. Compressed PDF files download much faster, increasing the chances of your users liking your page and even improves ranking in some search engines.
After establishing why compressing PDFs is a good thing, let’s take a look at how to do that. There are different methods depending on the tools and platforms you have.
Online PDF compression tools are the most elementary and readily available compression tools for the size reduction of PDF files. No setting up is needed, and it’s possible to compress the file in a few steps.
Smallpdf is one of the finest online PDF compression tools. It provides a user-friendly interface, and the compression process is relatively quick and efficient.
How to Compress PDF Using Smallpdf:
Upload your file using “Choose File” or drag it into the upload area.
Automatic compression of PDF by Smallpdf.
Download the compressed PDF to your device.
ILovePDF is another online software that compresses your PDF and many other things such as merging, splitting, and converting.
Start ILovePDF.
Upload the PDF file to compress.
Choose Compression level: Extreme, Recommended or Less Compression
Click “Compress PDF.”
Download the compressed file when the process is complete
PDF2Go
PDF2Go is another free online service, widely used to compress your PDFs, and also offers PDF editing, converting, etc.
Open PDF2Go
Upload your PDF file
Select the quality and compression according to your requirement; you will get both basic and strong compression
Click on “Start” to compress.
Download the compressed PDF to your machine.
Advantages of Free Internet-based PDF Compressors:
No software download required.
Accessible.
Most of these software provide free compression with limited file size
Work on any device and therefore can use the compressors on mobile phones, tablets, and desktop computers as well
Free versions rarely provide much control over the quality of compression.
Requires internet to compress the PDF Some sites have file size limits to free users only.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is your industry standard if you work regularly with PDFs and want advanced compression capability. Quality compression is included with many more PDF editing capabilities.
Open your PDF in the Adobe Acrobat Pro DC program.
Go to “File” located in the top bar.
Click on “Save As Other” then select “Reduced Size PDF”.
Choose the compatibility version in the dialog box (if versions of Adobe are older or newer).
Click OK to save the compressed PDF.
With Adobe Acrobat, you are able to have more flexibility in making choices through the compression options to be able to make the trade-off between the file size and quality.
Acrobat Pro DC also compresses more than one PDF at once
You have control over the quality of compression.
Batch processing for multiple files.
Comprehensive PDF management features.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is paid.
Software installation is needed.
Compressing a PDF doesn’t have to be a troublesome task at all if you are using macOS. All one needs is the Mac Preview-which comes preinstalled with OS and isn’t just an app for viewing, but a utility with some useful features, including file compression.
How to Compress PDF Using Preview:
Open your PDF file in Preview.
Tap “File” at the top menu and then hit “Export.”
In the export dialog, select “Reduce File Size” in the Quartz Filter dropdown.
Click “Save” to save the compressed PDF.
Free and built-in for Mac user.
Easy and fast compression.
It has some disadvantages
Poor compression quality occurs where important file sizes are significantly reduced.
The Microsoft Word application lets you save your Word document as a reduced-size PDF file if you are working on a file that you need to convert from a Word file into a PDF while still keeping the file size small.
Open the Word document that you want to convert to a PDF.
Select “File” and then “Save As.”
Use the dropdown list of “File format” and choose “PDF.”
Click on “More options” before saving
Under “Optimize for, choose “Minimum size (publishing online).
Click “Save” to create a compressed PDF file.
This process also makes it easy to create PDFs from files in Word, with minimal size of files.
Very easy to use for Word Users
Integrated in the software-so no extra tools are required
Only works on Word documents, but not on existing PDF files
There aren’t many choices of compression.
If you are traveling and require shrinking the size of PDF files using a mobile device, there are several apps available for Android as well as iOS that will compress PDFs fast for mobile users.
Smallpdf Mobile App (Android and iOS): Compress, transform, and organize PDFs from your mobile.
PDF Compressor (Android): A lightweight app optimized specifically for shrinking PDF files.
Adobe Acrobat Reader Mobile App (For Android and iOS): This app from Adobe lets the readers read, e-sign, or compress PDFs.
Mobile applications can be used anywhere and facilitate both managing and compressing PDF files. They perfectly fit any business individual and every student.
Compression of PDF files should strike a proper balance in terms of quality and file size. To do that, follow some best practices below:
Most of the compressors offer various levels of compression; among which, high, medium, and low are more often used. The highest level of compression reduces the size of the file the most, but also results in the lowest quality, especially when images are embedded in a PDF. So, if your PDF contains critical information in the form of visuals, you should go for medium compression.
Eliminate unnecessary objects in the content of the PDF, such as fonts included within it, big images, and even multimedia. This may increase the size of the PDF file to a much higher level; hence, reducing content before compressing can yield the best result.
Quality of the output should always be checked right after compressing a PDF. The text should be legible, and the images should look great. Proper formatting should be followed. Multiple machines should be tested with the compressed PDF for inter-operability.
If you have a number of PDFs to compress, then a batch processing-enabled tool such as Adobe Acrobat would be the best and easiest route to your goal.
Therefore, learning to compress a PDF file is one of those skills that may very well prove helpful when trying to exchange multiple files by email, posting multiple files to a website, or storing multiple large documents. With online tools like Smallpdf and ILovePDF, with a desktop application such as Adobe Acrobat, or through the mobile app, the process is relatively straightforward and time- and space-saving.