Compress PDF to 200 KB
Get your PDF under 200 KB — the exact limit your form is asking for.
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Processed securely and deleted within the hour.
Getting a PDF under 200 KB
200 KB is one of the most commonly enforced upload limits on government portals, university applications and exam registration forms. It is also a limit that most PDFs miss by a long way on the first try, because a document containing even one scanned page usually starts in the megabytes.
This page works backwards from the number. It compresses, measures the result, and if the file is still over 200 KB it compresses harder — reducing image quality first, then image resolution — until it fits. Then it stops, so you keep as much quality as 200 KB allows rather than being over-compressed by a fixed preset.
Whether your document can get there
200 KB is achievable for most ordinary documents, including scans of several pages. If the target genuinely cannot be reached, you are told, along with the smallest size we managed — not handed a file that quietly misses the limit you needed.
If it will not fit
Two things usually work. Split the document and upload it in parts, if the form allows more than one file. Or remove pages the form does not actually require — cover sheets and blank backs of double-sided scans are the usual candidates.
Why scans compress and text documents do not
A scanned page is a photograph of paper, and phone cameras save photographs at a quality far beyond what a document needs. That excess is what gets removed, which is why scans routinely drop by 80–95%. A PDF exported from Word is mostly text, which is already tiny, so there is very little to take away — such a file may already be under 200 KB, in which case it is returned unchanged.
Your document is not kept
Compression runs on our server because it requires rewriting the images inside the PDF, which a browser cannot do. Each job gets its own directory, deleted the moment your download has been sent. Nothing is logged and no account is required.
Common questions
Can any PDF be compressed to 100 KB?
No. A long colour scan cannot reach 100 KB and remain readable. We tell you the smallest size we managed rather than returning a file that misses your limit.
Will the text still be selectable?
Yes. Only images are re-encoded; the text layer is untouched, so you can still search and copy from the result.
Why did my file barely get smaller?
It was probably already efficient — a text-only PDF exported from Word has almost no image weight to remove.
Is the quality loss visible?
At mild targets, no. As the target tightens we reduce image quality and then resolution, and at very small sizes on a scan it will look softer. You choose the trade-off by choosing the number.
Are my files kept?
No. Each job runs in its own directory on the server and is deleted as soon as your download has been sent, with a sweeper removing anything a crash leaves behind.
Does it work on scanned documents?
That is exactly what it is best at. Scans are the case where 80–95% reductions are normal.