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Compress a PDF to 500 KB

Half a megabyte is a common cap on application and registration forms that take a PDF.

  • Nothing is uploaded. Your browser does the compression, so the file stays on your device.
  • Lands under the real limit. We aim a little below it, so the upload goes through first time.
  • Fast. A 30 second 1080p clip fits into 10 MB in about two seconds on a desktop.
Where are you sending it?

Custom size 500 KB. We aim for 485 KB, a small safety margin so the file never lands just over.

Sent to our servers: 0 bytes. It all happens in this tab.

When you need 500 KB

Online forms and portals with a small attachment cap, and sending a scan by chat.

What to expect

A few pages of text or a short scanned document fit at readable quality. Long documents become soft, so split them if you can.

How much room each page gets in 500 KB

The size is shared by all pages. Plain text pages need very little, pages with photos or scans need the most, so a mixed document sits somewhere in between. The tool checks the real result.

Pages in the PDFAverage room per page
1 page485 KB
3 pages162 KB
5 pages97 KB
10 pages49 KB
20 pages24 KB
50 pages10 KB

How we hit the number

We redraw each page as a picture at the sharpest resolution that still fits, saved as JPEG inside a new PDF. If the result is too big, we lower the resolution and quality a step at a time and try again; if it comes out much smaller than needed, we try a sharper one. Because pages become pictures, the text can no longer be selected or searched.

The target we aim for is 485 KB, which is 15 KB under 500 KB, so the file is not turned away over a few bytes.

Questions people ask

Can I still select and copy the text?

No. To reach a small size, every page is redrawn as a picture. It looks the same on screen and in print, but the text can no longer be selected, searched or read aloud. Keep the original if you need that.

Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?

No. The pages are redrawn inside your browser and the file never leaves your device.

What if my PDF has a password?

Remove the password first, then compress it. The tool will tell you when it hits a protected file.

Related

Limits change. We link the official page wherever there is one, and the safety margin means a small change is unlikely to matter. Last updated 2026-11-09.