Make your PDF smaller.
To compress a PDF for free, open it below, choose a compression level, and click Compress — your smaller PDF downloads instantly. Everything runs inside your browser, so your file is never uploaded. Works best on scanned and image-heavy PDFs.
Every compression runs entirely inside your browser — your file is never uploaded, and nothing ever leaves your device. See all PDF tools →
Questions, answered
How do I compress a PDF without uploading it?+
Plume compresses your PDF entirely inside your browser — the file is never uploaded and nothing is sent to a server. You can even compress with your wifi switched off, which makes it well suited to contracts, IDs and other sensitive documents.
Why didn’t my PDF get much smaller?+
Compression shrinks scanned and image-heavy PDFs the most (often 40–70%). PDFs that are mostly text or vector graphics are already compact, so there’s little to remove — and Plume keeps your original if compressing would actually make it bigger.
Does compressing reduce quality, and is the text still selectable?+
Plume compresses by re-rendering each page as an optimized image, so the file gets smaller but the text becomes part of the page image — it’s no longer selectable or searchable. Choose Light for the crispest pages, or Strong for the smallest size.
Is it safe to compress a PDF online?+
Yes — because nothing is uploaded. Your documents never leave your device, so nobody (including us) can see them. That’s the whole point of Plume.
How do I make a PDF small enough to email?+
Pick the Strong level for the biggest reduction, then check the before→after size shown after compressing. Most image-heavy PDFs drop well under common 10–25 MB email limits.