Fit a PDF under 1 MB for email, CRM systems, LinkedIn résumés, and HR portals. At this size the tool almost always stays on the highest quality tier — the output is visually identical to the original. Free, browser-only, no upload, no signup.
1 MB is the friendliest threshold — small enough for anywhere, large enough to keep near-original quality.
Use the 1 MB preset when you are emailing a contract, a signed form, or a résumé. Gmail accepts attachments up to 25 MB but downstream mail servers often cap at 10 MB or lower; a 1 MB PDF arrives without bounce. LinkedIn prefers résumés under 2 MB but the upload goes faster at 1 MB. Many applicant tracking systems and HR portals cap individual files at 1 MB per attachment.
For everyday use — sharing a PDF in Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, or Messenger — 1 MB is the size where nobody asks you to split the file. And because we iterate from highest quality down, 1 MB gives us the most room to keep the document sharp.
pdf.js and pdf-lib run locally. No server, no cloud, no third party receives your PDF.
Clean output. No email gate, no trial prompt, no ads on the download.
At 1 MB the tool almost always lands on tier 0 — visually identical to the original on screen.
If your source is huge (50 MB scanned book), the tool reports what it achieved. No silent dropping of pages.
How the tool reaches 1 MB. Different source PDFs may settle on different tiers.
| High (tier 0) | 2.0 × 0.8 — ~1.8 MB. Just above 1 MB on a 5 MB photo source. |
|---|---|
| Medium (tier 1) | 1.5 × 0.6 — ~950 KB. Typical 1 MB hit. Crisp on screen. |
| Low (tier 2) | 1.0 × 0.4 — ~520 KB. |
| Very low (tier 3) | 0.75 × 0.3 — ~240 KB. |
| Extreme (tier 4) | 0.5 × 0.25 — ~130 KB. |
| Last-resort (tier 5) | 0.4 × 0.18 — ~80 KB. |
Text-heavy PDFs land on tier 0 at 1 MB almost every time. Photo and scan sources slide down a tier or two.
Target set to 1 MB. Drop your PDF below.
Compress to 1 MB
Private, free, no upload.
1 MB is the most common threshold for email attachments in strict environments — mailing lists, CRM systems, and legacy email gateways cap at 1 MB per attachment. LinkedIn prefers résumés under 1 MB. Many job-application portals and HR systems cap individual files at 1 MB. For passing a PDF around in Slack, WhatsApp or Discord without friction, 1 MB is the ceiling where nobody complains.
A lot. At 1 MB the tool usually lands on tier 0 (scale 2.0, JPEG quality 0.8) for typical PDFs under 5 MB — visually identical to the original on screen. Even 10-page photo PDFs compress reasonably at this tier. For very large sources (50 MB scanned book) expect tier 1 or 2, which still looks crisp.
Yes. The output is a standard PDF. Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, Yahoo, and ProtonMail all treat it as a normal PDF. Gmail caps messages at 25 MB, Outlook at 20 MB, Yahoo at 10 MB — a 1 MB PDF leaves plenty of headroom.
Internal page navigation and bookmarks may not survive target-size compression, because each page is re-rendered as an image. If bookmarks and hyperlinks must remain, keep the original PDF or target a larger size where tier 0 preserves more structure.
No. pdf.js and pdf-lib run in your browser and never send the file anywhere. You can verify with the network tab.
Compress to 50 KB
Most aggressive preset
Compress to 100 KB
Common e-form cap
Compress to 200 KB
DS-160 & PAN upload
Compress to 300 KB
Passport Seva & exam portals
Compress PDF on Mac
Preview vs browser tool
Compress PDF on iPhone
Safari · no App Store
Compress PDF on Windows
No Acrobat needed
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