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Make a PDF under 1 MB, 2 MB or 5 MB

Choose a PDF or drop it here

Processed on this device. Nothing is uploaded.

Short answer

Choose the limit you were given and the tool works backwards from it: it renders the document at progressively lower settings and measures the finished file each time, stopping at the first result that fits. Because it stops at the first fit rather than the smallest possible, you get the best quality that meets your limit instead of an over-compressed file. Quality is reduced before resolution, so text stays legible for as long as possible. If the target genuinely cannot be reached, it says so and tells you how close it got — rather than handing back an oversized file that will be rejected again.

Next step

Compress a PDF Make a PDF look scanned Split a PDF

Doing more than one thing?

The full editor puts every operation in one workspace with undo, so you are not exporting and re-opening between each step. Same engine, same privacy, still nothing uploaded.

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Why this one does not upload your file

Almost every free make a pdf under 1 mb, 2 mb or 5 mb tool works by sending your document to a server, doing the work there, and sending a result back. That is a cost decision rather than a privacy one — server time costs money, which is why those tools meter you, ask for an account, or cap your file size.

This one runs the same work in your browser using JavaScript, so your file never travels anywhere. There is no upload step, no queue, no account, and no page limit — and the page keeps working if you disconnect from the internet partway through.

You do not have to take that on trust. Open your browser's network tab and watch while you work, or read how it works.

What happens to your file

  • It is read from your disk into this tab's memory
  • Every change happens on your own processor
  • The result is built in memory, reopened and checked before you are offered it
  • Your original file is never modified
  • Closing the tab releases everything — nothing is stored
Questions

Straight answers

Why not just use a quality slider?
Because nobody knows what number to pick. You were told "maximum 2 MB" — you were not told to use 68% JPEG quality at 110 dpi. A slider makes you export, check the size, and guess again. This inverts it: you give the number you actually have, and finding the settings is our problem.
How does it decide the settings?
It measures, rather than estimating. Output size depends heavily on what is in the document — a page of photographs costs 30 to 45 per cent more than a page of text at identical settings — so no fixed formula works. The tool renders and measures at each step down a ladder of settings and stops at the first one that fits under your limit.
Will the text still be readable?
For any realistic limit, yes. Quality is always given up before resolution, because dropping compression quality is largely invisible on a document while dropping resolution is what makes small text mushy. Resolution only falls when quality alone cannot get there.
What if my file cannot get that small?
You are told plainly, including how close it got and by how much it missed. You still get the smallest version it managed, labelled as such. A forty-page document of full-page photographs will not reach 500 KB without becoming unreadable, and pretending otherwise would only waste your time at the upload form.
What does "allow black and white" do?
It removes the colour before compressing, which makes a substantially smaller file. If your document is text, or a scan of a printed page, the colour is usually carrying no information and this is the easiest large saving available. Leave it off for anything where colour matters.
Will the text still be selectable afterwards?
No. Reaching a specific size reliably means rendering pages to images, which removes the text layer. If you need the text to stay selectable, use the ordinary Compress PDF tool instead — it will not hit an exact target, but it keeps the document intact.
Does my file get uploaded?
No. Every render, measurement and rebuild happens in this browser tab. That also means there is no file size cap imposed by an upload limit — the only constraint is your own machine’s memory.
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Merge PDFAdd two or more PDFs, drag them into the order you want, and press Merge. Split PDFOpen your PDF, choose how many pages each output file should contain, and press Split. Compress PDFOpen your PDF and choose a quality level. Rotate PDFOpen your PDF, turn every page at once or click individual pages to rotate just those, then download. Delete pagesOpen your PDF, click the pages you want gone, and download the result. Extract pagesOpen your PDF and either type a range such as 3-7, or click the pages you want in the grid. PDF to JPGOpen your PDF, pick a resolution and image format, and every page is rendered to an image in your browser. Images to PDFAdd your images, drag them into order, choose a page size, and they become a single PDF built in your browser.

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