This tutorial is designed to help you learn how to massively reduce pdf file size, so you can email them, upload them or save a lot of disk space on your computer. Pdf files are an easy way to share documents, but they can also be large, which means they take up more space on your hard drive and can’t be sent over the internet as quick.
I am going to show you how to massively reduce pdf file size and how to minimize pdf size by compression. Nowadays, pdf is the most popular format of sharing information on internet. However, smaller size pdf files are more popular. There are many ways to convert pdf into small size while maintaining its quality.
We are always short of free space in our phones and computers, so it is very helpful for us to reduce our PDF file sizes in order to save more space. When we have a document which have many pages and large pdf file size, it becomes impossible for us to download our important documents. We can solve this problem by reducing the pdf file size with these methods.
There are many ways to reduce your pdf file size. These methods will reduce your file, but not without any quality loss. They include removing extra fonts, applying compression and optimizing the images in your PDF files.
How to compress a PDF online
Follow these easy steps to compress a large PDF file online:
Click the Select a file button above or drag and drop files into the drop zone.
Select the PDF file you want to make smaller.
After uploading, Acrobat will automatically reduce the PDF size.
Download your compressed PDF file or sign in to share it.
Here are 5 ways to make your PDF smaller:
- Re-save the PDF to reduce PDF size
- Compress PDF with Adobe Acrobat or Nitro
- Remove unwanted objects from PDF files
- Clear unused space – Use the PDF Optimizer
- Colors can be a problem in a file size
We’ll take them one by one and explain them thoroughly. We’ve also inserted some images, and hopefully, they’ll help you reduce PDF size easier. So, let’s start with the first one:
Re-save the PDF to reduce PDF size
We don’t mean that you have to redo it from scratch. A simple, yet handy trick to reduce the size of a PDF file is to strip out unwanted objects, remove tags, and compress images. You can do that with any program that has a “print to PDF” option, or with the free online software. With most PDF editing tools, the file size reduction can be done in just a few easy steps:
- Open the PDF file
- Choose the Export / Save as dialog
- Select the PDF as file type
- Click Save and you’re done
Compress PDF with Adobe Acrobat or Nitro
Whether you are using Adobe Acrobat or Nitro PDF Professional, you can reduce PDF size in a simple, yet highly effective way. The “Save” feature is often much faster than the “Save As”, simply because any additional changes to the file are appended at the end of the file, without a complete rewrite, so a bulk of info is just adding up. Instead, by using the “Save As” feature, you can forget about this and reduce PDF size.
All you have to do is:
- Open the PDF editor
- In Acrobat go to File – Save As – Click Save once again
- In Nitro PDF Professional go to File – Save As – Choose the file you want to compress – Click Save
Remove unwanted objects from PDF files
There are many features that can help you decrease the size of your PDF files. Some of the best tools are Adobe and Nitro PDF. The size of a PDF file is increased by links, bookmarks, form fields, and JavaScript. But this shouldn’t be an issue. Whether you use the Nitro PDF Professional or Adobe, just follow the steps below. They’ll surely help you reduce PDF size:
- Open the PDF in the PDF editor
- In Nitro PDF Professional: Go to File > Optimize PDF > Click Custom
- In Acrobat: Go to File > Save as other > Optimized PDF. More details here
- Choose the objects to remove
- Press OK to complete
Clear unused space – Use the PDF Optimizer
There is unused space on your PDF that you might not be aware of. It’s always better to know what pulls up the size of your file. Getting rid of the unused space is often the easiest way to reduce PDF size. If you are using Adobe, then you should follow these simple steps:
- Select Tools > Advanced Optimization
- Click on PDF Optimizer
- Select the Audit Space Usage
Colors can be a problem in a file size
If the color is not your major concern, don’t let the color scheme interfere with the file size. Use the RGB color space instead of the CMYK, and you will see a significant change. You can find it easily in the Adobe Acrobat Pro options menu bar. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro
- Choose Tools > Print Production > Convert Colors
- Select the RGB color space
- Select the FOGRA39 profile (this is a print industry standard)
- Check which pages you would like to convert
- Click OK and you’re done
Bonus tip #1: Compress PDF by saving it as a reduced size PDF
One of the simplest ways to minimize your PDF file is to re-save it as a reduced-size PDF. If you’re using Adobe, then these are the few things that you need to do:
- Open the PDF file you want to re-save
- Choose File > Save as other > Reduced Size PDF
- Click OK and you’re done
Keep in mind that this method will also reduce the quality of images and will remove digital signatures. If you want to avoid this, then you should choose the PDF Optimizer procedure presented above.
Bonus tip #2: Subset your fonts in order to reduce PDF size
When you embed fonts into your PDF, you’re basically attaching the entire character set within the PDF, which can enlarge the file significantly. But if you’re subsetting the fonts, you’ll compress PDF files to minimum size. It’s really easy to do it:
- Click on File, and then on Properties
- Select the Fonts tab
- All the fonts you used should appear there, and after each font, you should see either Embedded or Embedded Subset
- If they do say this, then you should be set
How can I compress a PDF online?
A quick and easy way to make PDF files smaller is to visit one of the free websites that offer this service. A few popular options include PDFBear, SmallPDF, PDF Compressor, PDF2Go, and I Love PDF. Here, we are using the latter but they all work in a similar way.
1. Head to the website either click the Select PDF Files button or if you have the file to hand you can click and drag it onto the area around the button.
2. After clicking Select PDF Files you’ll see an Explorer window open up which you can use to navigate to the PDF. When you find the one in question, highlight it and click Open.
3. The PDF will now appear in the centre of the screen with three options listed below. These are Extreme Compression, Recommended Compression, and Less Compression.
The higher the level of compression, the lower the size of the file, but this will also be accompanied by lower quality images. Depending on the nature of the PDF, select the appropriate level then click on the Compress PDF button found underneath the list.
4. The site will now go about reducing the size of the file. Once this is done you’ll see a message confirming the process is over and a button marked Download compressed PDF.
Under the button there will also be an indicator of how much the file size has been reduced. In our case, after choosing the Recommended Compression option, the PDF was 51 percent smaller than the original.
5. Click the Download compressed PDF button and you’ll soon be in possession of a diminutive file that can be more easily shared online.
How to compress a PDF using Adobe Acrobat
If you have a subscription to Adobe Acrobat DC then you’ll be able to make use of the built-in optimisation tool that reduces file sizes. Those not paying for the service can still access the feature by taking out a seven-day free trial.
Adobe PDF Compressor
Best for free reading, compression, conversion, and sharing of PDF files.
Adobe is perhaps the most popular and widely used tool on this list. Almost everyone has an adobe reader in their computers or mobile, allowing them to easily read and manage PDF files. However, you can also use Adobe’s online free tool to perform a variety of functions to manipulate your PDF file.
Adobe reduces your file size within seconds without breaking a sweat. You will get an option to directly compress your PDF file from the browser itself. It also provides you with a simple drag-and-drop feature to make the process all the easier to understand.
Compression on Adobe is very simple and can be done by any layman with no knowledge of using the software.
Steps to reduce the size of a PDF on Adobe:
#1) Click the Select a file button on the dashboard, you can also drag and drop your file here.
#2) After uploading the file, the file will automatically start compressing.
#3) Finally, you have to sign in to download the compressed file or share it online.
Features:
- PDF compression
- Drag and drop feature
- Convert files into PDF
- Easily share online
Verdict: PDF compression with Adobe is a piece of cake. The tool is free and the user interface is a treat to the eyes. If you want a quick solution to your PDF conversion woes, then we suggest you try Adobe’s PDF Conversion tool.
Price: Free PDF Compressor
Remove Unnecessary Frills
Depending on who and what your PDF content is intended for, you can scale down the bloat considerably. Applications that create PDFs for specific needs, like Adobe’s Photoshop for instance, will allow you to save PDFs with advance settings such as Preserve Photoshop Editing Capabilities.
But if your PDFs won’t be exclusively opened in Photoshop for editing, then there’s no need to prep the file for it. Thus, before you save a PDF with all the bells and whistles, get a good idea of how your PDF will be used and you can easily reduce the size accordingly.
PDFs are supposed to be high in quality, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be reflected in the file size. You can get a manageable PDF file with just a few adjustment s. And as an added bonus, you can accomplish most of these tweaks with Sonic PDF Creator. Just go to View>Options for Creation…. and you can access them through the dialog.
Conclusion
Every day worldwide millions of people use PDF for different purposes. But, sometimes we need to get something or read some document on the Internet and what do you do when everything is in PDF format? Of course, nothing. If it’s not a book-sized PDF file, you’ll probably download it and forget about it. However, there are times when you need to store hundreds or even thousands of documents in a small amount of space. In that case, you should be paying special attention to file size.
If you are creating PDF files and you’re using a Mac, then you will know how long it takes for them to download. This will also be true if you use a web-based service to create PDFs. Sometimes these files can be so large in size that they take ages to download, which is an issue. If you’re like most businesses, chances are you’ve started to use an apps somewhere along the line. One of your most common apps that is sure to produce a ton of docs and pdfs is Microsoft Office 365. As you know, documents and pdfs are sent over email or through file transfers or even in the cloud. And moreover, this is where the problem begins…