How to Make a PDF Smaller File Size on Mac, iPhone, and More

Part 1: Make a PDF Smaller File Size - At a Glance

The following is a short comparison of the 7 best compression tools to make your PDF size smaller. Have a look:

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Part 2: How to Make a PDF Smaller File Size Without Losing Quality?

Tenorshare PDNob is a powerful PDF editor that offers high-quality compression to reduce PDF file size without losing its quality. It provides many compression levels, such as “Low,” which offers the best quality with a small reduction, and “Medium,” which provides balanced compression. A“High” level features maximum file size reduction, which is good for email or web. Here are its features in detail:

Features:

• Batch compression allows shrinking multiple PDFs at once.
• Preserves formatting like fonts, layout, and links.
• Fast processing keeps text clear and images sharp.
• Offers an optional OCR tool, which displays 99% accuracy in making scanned text searchable before compressing.
• Secure and private with no size limits, no watermarks, and files stay on your device.
• Provides extra tools like 100+ text/image editing, 200+ annotations, merge, split, extract pages, and 30+ format conversions.
• You can add or remove images to shrink the PDF size.
• It provides an AI assistant that creates quick summaries from lengthy PDFs.
• A Screenshot feature lets you record your entire PDF editing process.
• It supports 16+ languages like English, Chinese, and French, among others.
• Responsive tech support guarantees that customers can achieve a flawless user experience.

Steps:

Here’s how to make a PDF smaller without losing quality with Tenorshare PDNob:

• Execute Tenorshare PDNob on your Windows or Mac computer. Then, choose “OCR PDF” to upload the scanned PDF file. The tool will download an OCR package. So, wait for it.

• Execute Tenorshare PDNob on your computer. Then, choose “Open PDF” to add the PDF file that you want to shrink in size.
• Head to the “Home” menu. Next, pick “Compress PDF.” Choose a level of compression.

• You can also add more files to compress in batch processing. Choose the output folder to save the compressed PDF. Hit “Compress.”

• Your PDF file will be compressed and automatically saved in the output folder.

Part 3: How to Make a PDF Smaller File Size on Mac?

If you want to know how to make a PDF document smaller on Mac, the built-in macOS Preview tool includes several features to shrink PDF file sizes. The “Reduce File Size” Quartz Filter is a quick way to compress files by lowering image quality and removing extra data.

For PDFs with lots of images, you can manually adjust the image resolution to make the file smaller. On newer macOS versions like Sonoma, the “Compress PDF” option offers better compression with a good balance between size and quality. You can use it compress PDF without losing quality.

Time It Takes:

• Small PDFs (1-10 pages): 1-2 minutes.
• Medium PDFs (10-50 pages): 2-5 minutes.
• Large PDFs (50+ pages): 5-10 minutes.
• Very large PDFs (100+ pages or image-heavy): 10-15 minutes.

Steps:

Here’s how to make a PDF a smaller file size in Preview on Mac:

• Open Mac Preview. Click “File.” Then, tap “Open” to upload the PDF file to the Preview.
• Once the PDF is opened in the Preview, head to “File.” Then, choose “Export.”
• Make sure to tick mark “Create Linearized PDF” in the “Export” menu.

• In the Quartz Filter menu, pick “Reduce File Size” or “Compress PDF” (if available).

• Rename the file. Pick a save location. Next, adjust image quality under “Show Details” if needed. Hit “Save.” This will create a smaller version of the PDF.

Part 4: How to Make a PDF Smaller File Size on iPhone?

If you want to know how to make a PDF smaller on an iPhone, there are many mobile apps and online cloud services available for the job. Here’s an example of a few of them:

Mobile Apps:

1.Adobe Acrobat Reader

In case you have a subscription to Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can use its app on your iPhone. It offers a “Compress PDF” feature that shrinks PDFs by lowering image quality and compressing fonts, while keeping text clear. Another “Optimize PDF” (Pro feature) gives more control, like adjusting image quality and removing extra data, ideal for professional use. For files over 100MB, cloud-based compression kicks in, using Adobe’s servers when local tools aren’t enough.

Time It Takes:

• Small (<10 MB): 5–15 seconds.
• Medium (10–50 MB): 15–30 seconds.
• Large (50–100 MB): 30–60 seconds.
• Very Large (>100 MB): 1–3 minutes.

Steps:

Here’s how to make a PDF file size smaller for free with the Adobe Acrobat Reader app on your iPhone:

• Download, install, and execute the “Adobe Acrobat Reader” from the App Store.”
• Tap the “+” button (bottom right). Then, select “Edit PDF”. Add the PDF you want to compress.
• Tap the “three dots (⋯)” in the top right. Next, choose “Compress PDF”.

• Pick a compression level: High, Medium, or Low. Hit “Compress.”

2.PDF Compressor

PDF Compressor is a PDF compression-only app for iPhone users if your main aim is to shrink file size only and not edit or annotate it. The app is not expensive, provides three compression levels, and automatically removes uploads after 60 minutes. You can upload up to 20 PDFs at once. However, the compression levels don’t show the exact percentage of size reduction.

Time It Takes:

• Small files (1-10 MB): A few seconds.
• Medium files (10-50 MB): 10-30 seconds.
• Large files (50+ MB): 30 seconds to a few minutes.

Steps:

Here’s how to reduce file size of a PDF with PDF Compressor app on your iPhone:

• Download, install, and execute the “PDF Compressor” from the “App Store.”
• Choose a compression level: Extreme, Recommended, or Less Compression (High, Medium, or Low).
• Tap “Select PDF” to add the PDF that you want to shrink. Click “Compress PDF” to start compression.

When done, you’ll see the size reduction details. Hit “Save Compressed PDF” to save it.

Cloud Services:

1.iLovePDF

Ideal for compressing multiple PDFs at once, iLovePDF offers unlimited use and fast compression. You can download all compressed files as a zip. However, it needs a strong Wi-Fi connection for best performance, and compression levels don’t show exact size reduction.

Time It Takes:

• Small files <10 MB: Less than 3 seconds.
• Medium-sized files 10-50 MB: 30 sec to 2 min.
• Large files 50-100 MB: 2-5 min.
• Very large files 100+ MB: 5+ minutes.

Steps:

Here’s how to make a PDF smaller file size with the iLovePDF online tool:

• Open the iLovePDF Compress PDF website on your iPhone.
• Tap “Select PDF files” to upload a PDF that you want to shrink from your phone.
• Choose a compression level. Tap “Compress PDF.”

• After compression, view the size reduction. Hit “Download Compressed PDF” to save it.

2.Xodo Web

Xodo Web tool offers fast and secure PDF compression with AES-256 encryption and automatic file deletion after 1 hour. It has two compression levels: Low for better quality and High for smaller file size. Free users get one low-level compression per day. While Pro users can compress multiple files at once and save directly to cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive.

Time It Takes:

• Small files <10 MB: 2-10 seconds.
• Medium-sized files 10-50 MB: 10-30 seconds.
• Large files 50-100 MB: 30 sec - 1 min.
• Very large files 100+ MB: 1-3 minutes.

Steps:

Here’s how to make the file size of a PDF smaller with Xodo online compressor on your iPhone:

• Open Xodo Online PDF Compressor in your mobile browser. Upload your PDF file that you wish to make smaller.
• Tap the “Gear” icon right next to the “Compress” button. Choose a compression level: Low (larger file) or High (smaller file).
• Tap “Compress.” Once your PDF files is compressed, hit “Download” to save it to your iPhone or use the gear icon to export it to cloud storage.

Part 5: How to Make a PDF Smaller File Size to Email?

UPDF is an offline tool you can use to make the PDF file size smaller for an email. It offers 4 compression levels, supports batch compression, and you can preview the estimated file size before compressing. UPDF also includes AI tools for summarizing, translating, and making scanned PDFs editable with OCR.

Time It Takes:

• Small files <10 MB: 2–5 seconds.
• Medium-sized files 10-50 MB: 5–20 seconds.
• Large files 50-100 MB: 20–60 seconds
• Very large files 100+ MB: 3+ minutes.

Steps:

Here’s how do you make a PDF smaller to email:

• Open “UPDF.” Then, load the PDF you want to compress.
• Click “Save as Other” on the right panel. Then choose “Reduce File Size…”

• Pick a compression level: Maximum, High, Medium, or Low. UPDF will show the new file size so you can decide based on your email service.
• Click “Save As.” Name the file. Pick a location. Next, hit “Save.”

FAQs About Making a PDF Smaller File Size

How to make a file smaller than 1MB?

If you want to know how to make a file smaller than 1MB, compress the images, remove extra pages, and avoid using large fonts or multimedia. Use a compression tool like Tenorshare PDNob, Adobe Acrobat, or iLovePDF to reduce file size. For mostly text-based files, converting to Word or plain text and then back to PDF can shrink the size further.

How to make an Adobe PDF file smaller?

You can make an Adobe PDF file smaller by compressing it with the help of a tool like Tenorshare PDNob. It offers fast and high-quality compression without losing quality. You can also edit or annotate the PDF before compressing it.

Final Thoughts: Choose the Right Tool for Your PDF Task

There are many tools that can teach you how to make a PDF file size smaller. They vary in speed, quality, and features, and some are great for quick fixes, while others offer advanced options like OCR and AI. For simple tasks, built-in or mobile apps function well.

So, it all boils down to your needs like whether you want basic compression, or high quality one, which platform you want to use the tool on, etc. But if you need a powerful, all-in-one PDF management tool, Tenorshare PDNob is the best pick. It offers fast, high-quality compression without losing formatting, and extras like batch processing, editing, OCR, AI summaries, and support for multiple formats and languages.

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