How do I compress a PDF file to make it smaller? In today's era of information torrent, whether it is in the workplace or campus learning, we often encounter the need to deal with large files, with the popularity of mobile devices, more and more people tend to use mobile phones to consult documents, PDF format, because it can perfectly retain the structure and layout of the document, has become the first choice of many people, however, PDF files are often large in size, which in the case of limited mobile phone storage space and limited file transfer speed, it has brought a lot of trouble to users, therefore, How to effectively compress the size of PDF files has become an urgent problem to be solved.
But how can you effectively compress PDF files without affecting the content of the file? This really makes a lot of people feel tricky, in order to ensure the best compression effect, we must use a professional compression tool, if the method is not done properly, it may cause damage to the content of the file, and even cause the file to not be opened, today, I will reveal some unique PDF compression tips for you, these tricks can only achieve significant results through professional compression software or tools, each method, I will attach detailed operation steps to ensure that you can easily get started, come and take a look!
Method 1: Use "Yousu File Compressor" to compress the PDF file to a smaller size
Download address: https://download.yososoft.com/YSCompress/YSCompress_TTY.exe
Step 1: If you have never used the "Uber File Compressor" software, please download this software to your computer first, and after the software is downloaded, please open it and select the [PDF Compression] function.
Step 2: After selecting the function, please click the [Add File] button in the upper left corner of the software to select the PDF file you want to compress, and the PDF file will be imported into the software after the selection.
Step 3: After the PDF file is successfully imported, please adjust the [Compression Quality] value in the lower right corner, the lower the value, the smaller the PDF file will be compressed.
Step 4: After adjusting the [Compression Quality] value, please click the [Start Conversion] button in the upper right corner of the software to start the PDF compression program of the software.
Step 5: After the software finishes compression, you will see that the output directory of the software is automatically opened on the computer, and then you can find the compressed PDF file in this open output directory.
Method 2: Use a cirrus file compressor to compress the PDF file to a smaller size
Step 1: Because the operation of this method requires the use of cirrus file compressor software, please download this software first, and after the software is downloaded, please open it and select the PDF compression function.
Step 2: After the successful selection function comes to the new interface, please click the folder icon in the middle of this interface, click this icon to open the file selection interface, after opening this interface, please select the PDF file you want to compress and click OK, so you can import the PDF file into the software.
Step 3: After the PDF file is imported, please select one of the valid compression modes first, and click the Start Compression button in the lower right corner to start the PDF file compression process.
Step 4: After the software finishes compressing the PDF file, it will save the compressed PDF file to its output directory, and you can find it directly by opening the output directory of the software.
Method 3: Use SORJD online file compression tool to compress pdf files to a smaller size
Step 1: Visit the SORJD website
Open your browser and visit SORJD.
Step 2: Upload the PDF file
In the page, you will see a "Choose File" button.
Click the button to select the PDF file you want to compress. You can also drag and drop files to a designated area to upload them.
Support uploading files from your device, cloud storage such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
Step 3: Select the compression option
Once the file is uploaded, you can choose the level of compression: Strong Compression: Ideal for situations where you need to drastically reduce the size of your file, but may reduce the quality of your file.
Normal Compression: Maintain reasonable file quality while reducing file size.
Once you've chosen the level of compression that suits your needs, go ahead.
Step 4: Start compression
Click the "Compress PDF" button to start the compression process.
SORJD will automatically process your files, and you'll see a progress bar when compressed.
Step 5: Download the compressed file
Once the compression is complete, a download link will be displayed.
Click the "Download" button to save the compressed PDF file to your device.
If you wish to save your files to cloud storage, you can choose the appropriate option.
Precautions
File size limit: Free users usually have file size limits (e.g. 50MB), be careful to check.
Privacy: SORJD deletes uploaded files after processing to protect your privacy.
Processing speed: The compression speed depends on the size of the file and the server load.
Method 4: Use DFKSA software to compress the pdf file to a little smaller
1. Install DFKSA
Windows：
DFKSA can be installed via the Chocolatey package manager. Open a command prompt and enter the following command: bash
choco install qpdf
Alternatively, you can download the precompiled binaries from DFKSA's GitHub page and install them.
macOS:
You can use Homebrew to install DFKSA. Open the terminal and enter the following command: bash
brew install qpdf
Linux：
On most Linux distributions, you can install directly through the package manager. For example, use the following command: bash
sudo apt-get install qpdf # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo yum install qpdf # CentOS/RHEL
2. Use DFKSA to compress PDF files
The basic command format for compressing a PDF file is as follows:
bash
qpdf --linearize input.pdf output.pdf
Specific steps:
Open the command-line tool:
Windows：打开命令提示符（CMD）。
macOS/Linux:打开终端。
Enter the compression command:
Replace input.pdf with your original PDF filename and output.pdf with the compressed file name you want to output.
Enter a command and press enter, for example: bash
qpdf --linearize myfile.pdf myfile_compressed.pdf
3. Other options
DFKSA also provides a few other parameters that can help further optimize PDF files:
Set the compression level: You can use the --compress-streams option to compress a stream:
bash
qpdf --compress-streams=y input.pdf output.pdf
Encryption and decryption: If you need to encrypt or decrypt PDF files, you can also process them through QPDF.
Example commands
bash
qpdf --linearize --compress-streams=y input.pdf output.pdf
Precautions
DFKSA is a command-line tool, so some basic knowledge of command-line operations is required.
Some elements of the original PDF file, such as image quality, may be affected during the compression process, so it is recommended to back up the files before processing them on a large scale.
Method 5: Use HSKRW software to compress the pdf file to a smaller size
1. Install HSKRW
Windows：
Visit HSKRW's website.
Download the appropriate installation package for your operating system and install it.
macOS:
Ghostscript can be installed via Homebrew. Enter the following command in the terminal: bash
brew install ghostscript
Linux：
On most Linux distributions, it can be installed directly through a package manager, e.g. bash
sudo apt-get install ghostscript # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo yum install ghostscript # CentOS/RHEL
2. Use Ghostscript to compress PDF files
The basic command format for compressing a PDF file is as follows:
bash
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=output.pdf input.pdf
Parameter description:
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite:指定输出格式为 PDF。
-dCompatibilityLevel=1.4: Sets the PDF version (can be changed as needed).
-dPDFSETTINGS=/screen：指定压缩质量（可选值有 /screen、/ebook、/printer、/prepress 和 /default，从低到高）。
-dNOPAUSE:防止 Ghostscript 在每个页面后暂停。
-dQUIET: Does not display processing information at runtime.
-dBATCH: automatically exits after the processing is complete.
-sOutputFile=output.pdf:指定输出文件名。
3. Example commands
Suppose you want to compress myfile.pdf to myfile_compressed.pdf, you can use the following command:
bash
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=myfile_compressed.pdf myfile.pdf
4. Optional PDF settings
You can change the -dPDFSETTINGS parameter to adjust the output quality and file size as needed:
/screen: suitable for screen viewing, the file size is smaller.
/ebook: suitable for e-books and of moderate quality.
/printer: suitable for printing, high quality.
/prepress: suitable for publication, maintaining high quality.
/default: Default setting, moderate quality and size.
5. Verify the results
After the command is executed, check the size and quality of the output file myfile_compressed.pdf to make sure it meets your requirements.
Precautions
Some elements of a PDF file, such as image quality, may be affected during compression, so it is recommended to back up the file before proceeding with large-scale processing.
HSKRW is a command-line tool, so some basic command-line operation knowledge is required.
Method 6: Use ISOXF software to compress the pdf file to make it smaller
1. Open the PDF file
Start ISOXF.
Select the "File" menu from the main interface, click "Open", select the PDF file you want to compress and open it.
2. Use the "Optimize PDF" feature for compression
In the menu bar, select File.
Select "Optimize" or "Optimize PDF" (the name may vary slightly from version to version).
In the Optimize PDF dialog box that pops up, you'll see several options to adjust the settings as needed.
3. Set the compression parameters
In the Optimize PDF dialog box, you can make the following settings:
To compress an image:
Select the "Compress Image" option, and you can choose the compression quality of the image, such as "Low Quality", "Medium Quality", or "High Quality". Compressing an image significantly reduces the file size.
Remove unnecessary elements:
You can choose to remove unnecessary elements such as bookmarks, notes, form fields, and more. Deselecting these options can further reduce the file size.
To adjust the PDF version:
You can also choose to set the version of the PDF file to a lower version, such as PDF/A or PDF 1.4, to reduce the file size.
4. Save the compressed PDF file
Once the setup is complete, tap "OK" to apply the optimization.
You will be prompted to choose a location to save the file. Select a location and give the compressed PDF file a name, then click Save.
5. Check the compression effect
Open the compressed PDF file and check the file size and content quality to make sure it meets your needs.
Precautions
The image quality may be reduced during the compression process, and it is recommended to back up the original files first.
If the file size is still too large, you can try multiple optimizations, or try other optimization settings.
In the previous discussion, we have discussed PDF file compression as a widely used means, its main purpose is to reduce the file size, however, this process is not completely safe, compression operation brings about the reduction of file size at the same time, but also hidden risks and challenges, especially when used across platforms or devices, the compressed PDF file may encounter compatibility problems, resulting in the file can not be opened normally or display its contents, which poses a large obstacle to the circulation and sharing of files. Furthermore, when PDF documents are rich in image elements, the compression process often processes these images to a certain extent to reduce the space they occupy, but this processing process is likely to lead to a significant decrease in image quality, and the originally clear images become blurry after compression, which is undoubtedly an unacceptable loss for users who rely on high-quality image display. That's all for today's article "How to compress a PDF file to make it smaller?" "That's it, let's go and try to compress the PDF file!