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Step 1 — Open the Compress tool
Open the Compress tool. You'll see the upload screen titled "Compress PDF".
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Step 2 — Upload your PDF
Click "Choose PDF Files" and pick a PDF, or drag one onto the page. Anything works — invoices, slide decks, scanned reports, exported designs.
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Step 3 — Choose a compression level
Pick a compression level. "Basic" keeps text crisp and images close to the original quality; "Strong" produces the smallest file by re-encoding images more aggressively — best when size matters more than pixel-perfect fidelity.
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Step 4 — Compress and download
Click "Compress File" to start, then "Download File" when it's ready. PDFly shows you the savings — the original size, the compressed size, and the percentage shaved off — before you download.
How-to guide
How to compress a PDF
Shrink a PDF so it fits inside an email attachment limit, uploads faster, or takes less space on disk. PDFly compresses your file in the browser and lets you choose between gentle quality-first compression and a stronger setting that produces the smallest possible output.
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