How to Compress a PDF to Around 200KB
Use the Low quality setting to get PDFs as close to 200KB as possible. Exact byte-for-byte sizing isn't possible with any browser-based compressor, but Low quality lands most multi-page documents within this range.
Compress your PDF (Low quality is pre-selected)
Drop a PDF here
or
What 200KB usually looks like
200KB is a comfortable target for documents that 100KB can't fit: 2–6 page scanned reports, photo-heavy receipts, or short brochures. On Low quality, a typical 5 MB scanned report lands between 150KB and 280KB.
Internally, Low downscales embedded raster images to roughly 1200 px on the long edge and re-encodes them at JPEG quality 55. For most everyday documents this is the sweet spot — small enough for any email attachment limit (Gmail's 25 MB cap, Outlook's 20 MB cap), large enough to keep printed text readable.
If your file lands well above 200KB even on Low: the document probably has many pages or very high-resolution embedded images. Splitting the PDF into smaller sections, or removing pages you don't need, is more effective than pushing compression harder.
Quick checklist
- Start with Low quality (already selected above).
- 2–6 page scanned documents typically land near 200KB on Low.
- If you don't need selectable text, the rasterised output is fine for printing or attaching.
- Need to keep selectable text? Use Medium or High instead — file will be larger but text stays searchable.
Common questions
- Will this hit exactly 200KB?
- No — and no browser-based PDF compressor can guarantee that. We aim close to 200KB on Low and show the actual result. For most multi-page scanned documents you'll land within 150–280KB.
- What if my result is 350KB instead?
- That means your document has a lot of pages or very large embedded images. Deleting unused pages in any free PDF reader before compressing is the most effective next step.
- Will the compressed PDF still have selectable text?
- On Low quality, often no — pages are rasterised. For selectable-text output, use Medium or High on the main Compress tool.
- Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
- No. The compression runs entirely in your browser. The file never leaves your device.