PDF Compressor

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compress pdf to 2mb

Compress a PDF to fit under 2 MB

Many forms, portals and email systems have an exact attachment limit, and 2 MB is one of the most common ones. Instead of trying preset after preset by hand, this page opens the tool already in target-size mode, set to 2 MB.

How the target-size search finds that 2 MB mark

Instead of applying one fixed resolution/quality combination, target-size mode tries a list of combinations, from the gentlest (highest quality) to the most aggressive, actually compressing the PDF on every attempt and measuring the resulting size. As soon as a combination produces a file at or under 2 MB, the search stops there, so the result is always the best quality that still fits the limit, not the most aggressive setting in the list.
If not even the most aggressive combination tried fits under 2 MB (common with extremely long documents or very complex images), the tool does not fake success: it tells you the limit was not reached and hands you the most compressed result it could produce.

What to expect when targeting 2 MB

10-page scanned PDF, 12 MB

Input: 12 MB
Expected output: 1.9 MB

A typical case where the 2 MB limit is reachable with a healthy quality margin left over.

200-page high-resolution scanned PDF

Input: 95 MB
Expected output: ~4 a 6 MB (limite não atingido)

Very long documents may not reach 2 MB even at the most aggressive setting, the tool warns you in that case instead of lying about the result.

Full tool FAQ

Does the compressor work well for every kind of PDF?

No, and the tool warns you before you waste any time. Scanned or photo-heavy PDFs usually shrink a lot, because the source image had more resolution than needed. A PDF generated from Word, LaTeX or Google Docs, made almost entirely of vector text, tends to get worse with resampling-based compression, because the only way to compress without a server is to rasterize every page, turning crisp, searchable text into a blurry image. The tool analyzes the document first and classifies the verdict as mostly image, mixed, or mostly vector text.

Is my file uploaded to a server during compression?

What does the warning that compression was not worth it mean?

How does target-size mode (say, under 2 MB) work?

Can I compress several PDFs at once?

What does removing metadata, attachments and thumbnails do, and does it rasterize the PDF?

Can I see the quality difference before downloading the compressed file?

Does the tool work with password-protected PDFs?

Frequently asked questions

Can I change the target from 2 MB to a different value?

Yes, the target-size field inside the tool accepts any value in megabytes, this page just arrives with 2 MB pre-selected because it is the most common limit.

What happens if the PDF is already smaller than 2 MB?

The search tries the highest-quality combination first, and if the original already fits (or the gentlest compression already solves it), that is the one used, without compressing more aggressively than necessary.

Next steps

How the target-size search finds that 2 MB mark

Instead of applying one fixed resolution/quality combination, target-size mode tries a list of combinations, from the gentlest (highest quality) to the most aggressive, actually compressing the PDF on every attempt and measuring the resulting size. As soon as a combination produces a file at or under 2 MB, the search stops there, so the result is always the best quality that still fits the limit, not the most aggressive setting in the list.

If not even the most aggressive combination tried fits under 2 MB (common with extremely long documents or very complex images), the tool does not fake success: it tells you the limit was not reached and hands you the most compressed result it could produce.

What to expect when targeting 2 MB

10-page scanned PDF, 12 MB

Input: 12 MB
Expected output: 1.9 MB

A typical case where the 2 MB limit is reachable with a healthy quality margin left over.

200-page high-resolution scanned PDF

Input: 95 MB
Expected output: ~4 a 6 MB (limite não atingido)

Very long documents may not reach 2 MB even at the most aggressive setting, the tool warns you in that case instead of lying about the result.

Full tool FAQ

Does the compressor work well for every kind of PDF?

Is my file uploaded to a server during compression?

What does the warning that compression was not worth it mean?

How does target-size mode (say, under 2 MB) work?

Can I compress several PDFs at once?

What does removing metadata, attachments and thumbnails do, and does it rasterize the PDF?

Can I see the quality difference before downloading the compressed file?

Does the tool work with password-protected PDFs?

Frequently asked questions

Can I change the target from 2 MB to a different value?

Yes, the target-size field inside the tool accepts any value in megabytes, this page just arrives with 2 MB pre-selected because it is the most common limit.