Compress PDF to 1 MB
Bring scans and photos under a megabyte while they still look like themselves.
or drop files anywhere on this page
Your files stay in this browser. Nothing is uploaded.
About Compress PDF to 1 MB
A megabyte is enough room for a PDF to keep looking like itself. This page is Compress PDF with its Target size set to 1 MB: it finds the gentlest setting that brings your file under 1,000,000 bytes, so a multi-page scan stays sharp and a photo keeps most of its detail. The work happens in this browser tab, and the file is not uploaded.
Most files that miss a 1 MB limit are scans or photos from a phone, where every page is one large picture. Those are exactly what Target size can shrink. A typed document is almost always under a megabyte already, and comes back unchanged.
How it works
- Add the PDF, or several: each is fitted under 1 MB on its own.
- Target size is already set to 1 MB. Choose another size from the list, or Custom size, if your limit is different.
- Click Compress to 1 MB.
- Check the note under the file name for the resolution that was kept, then download the result.
What fits in 1 MB
The five test files every size page uses, run through Target size at 1 MB. Only the phone photo, the report and the long scan were over the limit to begin with.
| Test file | Before | Result |
|---|---|---|
| One scanned page | 543 KB | Already under, returned unchanged |
| Phone photo of a page | 2.83 MB | 671 KB, at 300 ppi and JPEG 80% |
| Two-page typed document | 49 KB | Already under, returned unchanged |
| Seven-page report with two photos | 3.60 MB | 700 KB, at 200 ppi and JPEG 80% |
| Ten scanned pages | 4.87 MB | 889 KB, at 144 ppi and JPEG 45% |
How many scanned pages fit in a megabyte
The more pages share the megabyte, the lower the setting Target size has to choose. From our ten-page scan, one Letter page at 300 dpi, these are the sizes a page took at three of its settings:
- 144 ppi and JPEG 45%: about 89 KB a page, so about 11 pages fit in 1 MB.
- 100 ppi and JPEG 65%: about 66 KB a page, so about 15 pages fit.
- 72 ppi and JPEG 30%, the strongest setting: about 26 KB a page, so about 39 pages fit.
A photo keeps its resolution
The phone photo was 2.83 MB. At 1 MB, Target size kept it at 300 pixels per inch, the usual resolution for print, and saved it at JPEG 80%, which brought it to 671 KB. The gentler setting above that, 300 ppi at JPEG 92%, made 1.41 MB, over the limit. For a page that will be printed, a PDF made this way prints at the same size as the original, just with less stored detail.
Frequently asked questions
It was already under 1 MB, so there was nothing to do, and nothing was re-encoded. The note under the file name says so.
Target size aims for 1,000,000 bytes or fewer. That is under 1 MB whether the site counts a megabyte as 1,000,000 bytes or as 1,048,576, so the file passes either way.
It depends on how many pages share the megabyte. Our one-page photo kept 300 ppi, which prints cleanly. Our ten-page scan came down to 144 ppi, which reads well on screen and prints softer than the original.
Yes. Both are in the Target size list, and Custom size takes any figure you type, in KB or MB.
Yes. Target size re-encodes the pictures and nothing else, so typed text, links and page sizes stay as they were. A scan with no text layer stays a picture, as it was before.
Yes. Add them together; each one gets the gentlest setting that brings it under 1 MB on its own, and the result screen shows a note for every file.
No. It is read and rewritten in this browser tab, so nothing leaves your device while it works.
Other sizes
Related tools
This tool ran entirely in your browser and nothing was uploaded. Your Recent files list keeps a copy of local files under 5 MB until you clear it. How your files are handled.