Tutorials

How to shrink large PDF files in 2025

PDFs can become very large, but there are easy ways to shrink these files.

PDFs are a top choice for sharing documents across different platforms such as Windows, Mac, or a smartphone ensuring your file appears just as you intended. They’re also ideal for documents that require collaboration and editing by multiple people.

However, one drawback is that PDFs can end up significantly larger than comparable Word or PowerPoint files. Selecting the wrong save options can create oversized PDFs that may be challenging to send via email. Fortunately, there are simple online tools available to reduce PDF file size quickly and easily. Below we will show you effortless ways to shrink your PDFs online.

There are several free online services available that help you shrink PDF files quickly and easily. These include PDFBear, SmallPDF, PDF Compressor and I Love PDF.

We will guide you through an example using the I Love PDF site. Click Compress PDF first, then select or drag the PDF file you want to edit to upload it to the webpage. You will now see your PDF in the middle of the website and a column will appear on the right with the three options Extreme Compression, Recommended Compression and Less Compression.

The higher the compression level, the smaller the file size. However, this is also accompanied by a lower image quality. Now choose your preferred compression type and then click on Compress PDF at the bottom right.

Afterwards the website will show statistics of the compression result and you can now download the newly compressed PDF.

That's it!

About Author

I am a technology writer for UpdateStar, covering software, security, and privacy as well as research and innovation in information security. I worked as an editor for German computer magazines for more than a decade before starting to be a team member at UpdateStar.

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