How to compress a PDF without ruining readability

Compression is a tradeoff: smaller files are easier to email and faster to upload, but aggressive compression can make fine text harder to read. Start with a moderate setting and compare before/after on a page with small fonts.

When compression helps most

Scanned PDFs and image-heavy pages usually shrink the most. Text-native PDFs may not change dramatically—but even structural optimization can still help in some cases.