Compress a PDF to 500 KB

500 KB is the sweet spot for email attachments and most application portals. This mode keeps quality noticeably better than a 100 KB squeeze.

No upload. No watermark. No sign-up. Every tool mentioned here runs inside your browser.

Why 500 KB usually looks fine

At 500 KB a scanned page still has enough resolution to read comfortably on screen and print acceptably. Going below 200 KB starts to soften small print.

For text documents, Safe mode may already get you under 500 KB without turning pages into images — try it first, it keeps the text selectable.

Questions

Does compression damage the original?

No — your original file is untouched. You get a new file; the original stays exactly as it was.

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