Three levels
Balanced and Strong turn pages into pictures, so text can no longer be selected or searched. If the result is not smaller, the tool tells you and keeps your original.
- Light - cleans up the file structure without touching the pages. Text stays selectable; quality is unchanged.
- Balanced - redraws each page as a high-quality image (150 dpi). Large savings on scanned PDFs, good quality.
- Strong - smaller images (100 dpi) for the tightest limits, such as 200 KB on government portals.
Best for scans
Scanned PDFs and PDFs full of photos shrink the most. A PDF that is mostly text is often already small; Light compression is the right choice there.
Questions
How small will my PDF get?
It depends on the content. Scans often shrink by 50 to 90 percent with Balanced or Strong. The new size is shown before you download.
Will my PDF still look good?
Light keeps it exactly the same. Balanced is very close to the original on screen. Strong is meant for tight upload limits.