How to use it
- Choose your PDFs and photos. You can add more files at any time.
- Put them in order with the arrow buttons. Pages from each file stay in their original order.
- Enter the size limit from the form you're filling in, or press one of the common sizes.
- Press Combine and shrink, then download the result.
- Open the downloaded file and check every page is readable before you upload it.
How the shrinking works
First the files are combined. If the result is already under your limit, nothing else happens: text stays selectable and quality is unchanged.
If it's too big, each page is turned into an image and saved again with stronger compression. The tool starts at 150 dots per inch and lowers the resolution and image quality step by step until the file fits. About 100 dpi is usually still easy to read for typed documents.
The tool aims about 2% under your limit, and counts 1 MB as 1,000,000 bytes. Some systems count 1 MB as 1,048,576 bytes, so the file fits whichever way a form measures it.
Limits
- Text stops being selectable once pages are compressed, because each page becomes an image. Keep your original if you need the text.
- Very small limits can make small print hard to read. If the tool can't reach your limit, split the document into parts and upload them separately.
- Password-protected PDFs can't be opened. Remove the password in the app that made the file first.
- Large files on phones can be slow or run out of memory. A laptop or desktop handles big scans better.
- HEIC photos from iPhones need converting first: use HEIC to JPG.
Questions
Why does "Black and white" sometimes not help?
Color information is a small part of a compressed page, so removing it often saves less than you'd expect. Lower resolution saves far more. Leave it off unless the form asks for black and white.
What does "Trim white borders" do?
Phone photos and scans often include a wide empty margin around the paper. Trimming it means fewer pixels to store, so pages stay sharper at the same file size. It only removes plain white space.
The form says "maximum 4 MB per file". Do I need to combine everything?
No. If each document goes in its own upload box, run the tool once per document. Combine files only when a form asks for several pages in one file.
Will the receiving office be able to read it?
Usually, if you can read it comfortably on screen at full size. Zoom in on small print, stamps and signatures before uploading. If something is hard to read, use a higher limit or split the document.
Is anything about me added to the file?
No. The tool clears the document's title, author and software fields rather than adding anything.
Last updated 2026-10-23.