Why the 10 MB limit matters
Government portals, corporate email systems, and tender platforms often cap file uploads at 10 MB. A PDF with scanned pages, diagrams, or many photos can easily exceed that. In most cases you can get below the limit in under two minutes without losing text legibility.
Step-by-step: compress PDF to 10 MB
Step 1: Check why the file is large
Look at the PDF properties before compressing. Key factors:
- Number of pages
- Embedded images or scans (main contributors to file size)
- Embedded videos or complex objects
Text-only PDFs compress by 5–20%. Files with photos or scans can shrink 3–10×.
Step 2: Compress the PDF online
- Open the Compress PDF tool.
- Upload your file (up to 500 MB).
- Choose compression level — High for maximum reduction.
- Download the result and check the new file size.
Step 3: If the file is still too large
Try these steps in order:
Remove unnecessary pages. Open Edit PDF and delete pages not needed for this submission.
Split the document. Use Split PDF to divide the file into smaller parts and upload them separately.
Optimize embedded images. If the PDF contains high-resolution photos, compress them first using Compress JPG, then reassemble via Merge PDF.
Frequently asked questions
Will the text quality suffer?
No. Text in PDF is stored as vectors and is not affected by compression. Only embedded images may lose slight sharpness at high compression, but remain readable.
Why isn't the PDF getting smaller?
The file may already be optimized, or it may consist mostly of text. If it was created from scans that already have high JPEG compression, re-compressing gives minimal results.
Can I compress to 2 MB?
Yes, if the file contains images. Use high compression and remove unnecessary pages. For scans this usually works. For dense text PDFs with 50+ pages, try splitting the document first.
Get started
- Open Compress PDF — main tool
- Edit PDF — remove extra pages
- Split PDF — divide into uploadable parts