Compress PDF to 200KB
Shrink big PDFs for email and upload limits, with an optional target size in KB.
- ✓Files never uploaded
- ✓No file limits
- ✓No sign-up
- ✓No watermark
Many online application systems cap attachments at 200 KB per document: scholarship and university forms, job portals, visa checklists, insurance claims and bank onboarding pages. This page loads the compressor with a 200 KB target already filled in. Drop the PDF, press Compress PDF, and pdfdots steps through stronger compression settings until the file lands at or below 200 KB, or as close as it can get while staying usable.
Compared with a 100 KB limit, 200 KB gives you noticeably more room. A three- or four-page scanned document, such as a transcript or a signed contract, typically fits with text that is still easy to read. Photos of documents taken with a phone are often 3–5 MB each, so they shrink dramatically. The compressor works by turning each page into an optimized JPEG image, which is why scanned pages compress so well, and also why text in the output won't be selectable.
If your document still won't fit, look at what's inside it. Blank pages, instruction pages and duplicate scans all eat into the budget — drop them with Remove Pages. Converting a color scan to grayscale before scanning helps a lot too. And because all processing happens locally in your browser, you can try as many times as you like without waiting for uploads, hitting daily limits or exposing personal documents to a third-party server.
A quick way to check the result is to open it on your phone at normal zoom: if you can read every line comfortably there, a reviewer on a desktop monitor will have no trouble. Keep the uncompressed original in case you need a higher-quality copy later, for example if the institution asks for the document again by email.
How to Compress PDF
- 1Drop your PDF into the box or click to choose it.
- 2Pick a compression level: low, medium or high.
- 3Optionally enter a target size in KB, such as 500.
- 4Click Compress PDF and the smaller file downloads automatically.
Why pdfdots?
Private by design
All processing happens locally in your browser. Your documents are never uploaded to a server, so nobody else can see them.
No limits
No daily task caps, no file-count limits and no premium tier. Process as many PDFs as your device can handle.
Fast
There's no upload or download queue. Work starts the moment you drop a file and finishes at the speed of your own computer.
Works everywhere
Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android or Chromebook — if it has a modern browser, pdfdots runs on it. Nothing to install.
What the compression levels actually do
pdfdots compresses a PDF by re-drawing each page as an optimized JPEG image and building a new PDF from those images. This is very effective on the files that are usually the biggest problem: scanned documents, phone photos of paperwork and PDFs full of high-resolution pictures. A 20 MB scan often drops to a small fraction of that size. Low keeps the most detail, medium is a good balance for most documents, and high produces the smallest file with visibly softer images.
There's an honest trade-off to know about. Because pages become images, text in the compressed file is no longer selectable or searchable, and links stop being clickable. For a scanned document that doesn't matter — it was an image anyway. For a text-heavy report exported from Word, compression may not shrink it much and you'd lose the selectable text, so keep the original as well.
If you have a hard limit, such as a portal that only accepts files under 500 KB, type that number in the target size field. The tool then tries progressively stronger settings to get the file at or under the target. Very long documents may not reach extremely small targets while staying readable; in that case, split the file or remove unneeded pages first. Everything runs on your own device, so even confidential documents are never uploaded.
Our take
Compress PDF is our go-to when an upload form has a hard limit, typically a job portal, a university application or a government site that refuses anything above a few hundred kilobytes, and the file in hand is a phone scan.
We start with Medium, because it keeps printed text readable while cutting most scans dramatically. When a portal names an exact limit we type it into the target size field, a little below the stated maximum, so small overhead does not push the file over. High is our last resort for long scans.
The trap: compression turns every page into a JPEG, so a text-based report loses selectable text and may barely shrink. For those files we would rather remove unneeded pages with Remove Pages, or re-export from the original program, and keep the searchable version.
Popular uses
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Frequently asked questions
How many pages fit in 200 KB?+
Typically three to five scanned pages stay readable, depending on how detailed they are.
Why isn't the text selectable after compression?+
Pages are re-rendered as JPEG images to save space. Keep your original if you need selectable text.
Can I retry with different settings?+
Yes, as many times as you like. There are no daily limits, and nothing is uploaded.
Does it work on my phone?+
Yes. It runs in mobile browsers on iPhone and Android.
How much can a PDF be compressed?+
It depends on the content. Scanned and image-heavy PDFs often shrink by 70–90%, while text-only PDFs may shrink very little.
Why can't I select text after compressing?+
Compression re-renders each page as a JPEG image, so text becomes part of the picture. Keep the original if you need selectable text.
Can I compress a PDF to a specific size?+
Yes. Enter a target size in KB and the tool tries stronger settings until the file is at or below that size, when possible.
Which compression level should I choose?+
Medium suits most documents. Use low if images must stay sharp, and high when the smallest possible file matters most.
Is it safe to compress confidential documents?+
Yes. Compression runs locally in your browser, and the file is never uploaded to a server.
Is there a file size limit?+
No fixed limit. Very large PDFs just take longer and need more memory on your device.