PDF Compressor
Reduce the file size of your PDF documents (best-effort local compression).
100% Private & Secure
Processed entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to any server and never leave your device.
About Our PDF Compressor Tool
When applying for the ICCR or COMPEX scholarship, the online portal has very strict file size limits. Most documents, like mark sheets and citizenship certificates, must be compressed to under 1 MB or 2 MB to be accepted by the portal. If your PDF file is too large, the website will give you an error and reject your application.
Our free PDF Compressor helps Nepalese and Indian students reduce the file size of their documents instantly. Because this tool runs entirely in your browser, your sensitive documents are never uploaded to any external server, ensuring 100% privacy and security. Simply upload your large PDF, let the tool compress it, and download a perfectly sized file ready for your scholarship application.
Drag & Drop your file here
or click to browse from your device
How to use this tool
- Drop a single PDF of up to 100 MB into the upload area, or click to browse.
- Check the first-page preview and the original size shown under the file name.
- Choose a compression level: Extreme, Recommended (selected by default) or Less.
- Click Compress PDF and wait while the pages are processed in your browser.
- Compare Original Size, New Size and the Saved percentage. If the file is still too large, click Start Over and try a stronger level.
- Click Download PDF, then open the file and zoom in to confirm every page is still readable before you upload it.
What the three levels actually do
Less compression only tidies the internal structure of the PDF. Pages, text and images are untouched, so quality is identical and text stays selectable, but the saving is often small and sometimes zero.
Recommended and Extreme draw each page as a picture and save it again as a JPEG at reduced quality, with Extreme using a lower resolution and stronger compression. Text in the output can no longer be selected or searched. If the picture version comes out larger than the tidied version, which can happen with plain text documents, the tool keeps the tidied version automatically.
So the tool shrinks scanned documents and phone photos saved as PDF the most, which is where oversized files usually come from. A text PDF exported from a word processor is often small already and may barely change.
Why scholarship portals reject PDFs
Size is the most common problem, but not the only one. Before you upload, check your file for these:
- The file is above the field's size limit.
- The PDF is password-protected. The compressor may not open it either, so remove the password with the software that created it first.
- Pages are sideways or upside down.
- Pages are missing, or two different documents share a field meant for one.
- Text has become unreadable because the file was compressed too hard.
Getting the smallest file that is still readable
Start with Recommended. Open the result at 100 percent zoom and check that marks, seals and signatures are clear. Move to Extreme only if you are still over the limit, and check again, because small print suffers first. Always compress a copy and keep your original scan, since lost detail cannot be recovered.
If even Extreme cannot reach the limit, the document probably has too many pages or was scanned at a very high resolution. Rescan at a moderate setting, or upload only the pages the field asks for.
The compressor runs entirely inside your browser. The PDF is read, redrawn and saved on your own device and is never uploaded to a server.
Using it with other tools
Merging and image conversion do not reduce file size, so compression is usually the last step. Combine files with /tools/merge-pdf or build a PDF from photos with /tools/jpg-to-pdf, then compress the result here. For the COMPEX certificate fields, /tools/compex-documents already sizes each PDF for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the result say 0 percent saved?
This usually happens with the Less level, or with PDFs that are already well optimised, such as text exported from a word processor. Try Recommended or Extreme, which redraw the pages as compressed images.
Will my text still be searchable after compression?
With Less, yes. With Recommended and Extreme the pages become images, so text cannot be selected or searched. Portals show the document visually, so this rarely matters for scholarship uploads.
Which level should I choose for mark sheets and certificates?
Start with Recommended, which keeps typical printed text readable while cutting scans down considerably. Use Extreme only if you are still over the limit, and check the small print afterwards.
Is there a limit on file size or page count?
The upload limit is 100 MB. There is no fixed page limit, but every page is processed on your device, so long documents take longer and can be slow on older phones.