Compress PDF to 1 MB

Get a PDF under 1 MB, compressing only as much as needed. 100% private: it never leaves your device.

About this tool

A common cap on government and exam portals, and a comfortable size to email. This tool compresses the images inside your PDF just enough to fit under 1 MB, and leaves typed text untouched. It runs in your browser, so the document is never uploaded anywhere.

Always at or under 1 MB

The result is never over the limit: it's at or under 1,000,000 bytes, or the tool tells you the smallest it can get with the pages still readable. Counting a KB as 1,000 bytes keeps it under the limit on sites that count 1,024 too.

What 1 MB looks like

  • A 3-page A4 scan at 300 dpi (8.8 MB) became 974.4 KB (974,395 bytes).
  • A 10-page PDF of phone photos (40.1 MB) became 966.0 KB (965,999 bytes).
  • Typed PDFs (from Word, Google Docs and the like) are mostly text, which takes little room: they are often already under the limit, and the tool then leaves them unchanged.

Tips for 1 MB

  • At 1 MB scans and photos are hard to tell from the original on screen.
  • Many phone-scanned PDFs are 5 to 20 MB: 1 MB is a big saving with little visible difference.
  • Keep the original for printing; send the 1 MB copy where the limit applies.

100% private

Most PDF compressors upload your document to their servers. This one works inside your browser tab: your certificate, ID scan or contract is never uploaded to Krisox or anyone else.

Questions

Will the text stay sharp?

Typed text, the kind you can select, isn't touched: only images are compressed. Scanned pages are images, so at small sizes they soften a little. Zoom in on the result before you submit it.

What if my PDF can't get under 1 MB?

The tool says so, and tells you the smallest it can get. Upload only the pages the form needs, scan in grayscale, or split the document into parts.

Is 1 MB counted as 1,000,000 or 1,024,000 bytes?

Sites differ. The tool aims under the smaller figure, 1,000,000 bytes, so the result fits either way.