Compress a PDF

Send a PDF to @MediaShaperBot as a file, press Compress PDF, choose a quality level and press Process. The bot rewrites the PDF with Ghostscript: images are recompressed, duplicate pictures are stored once and fonts are compressed.

Quality levels

Level	Meant for	Result
Smallest (screen)	reading on a screen, sending by messenger	the smallest file, images lose the most detail
Medium (reading)	tablets, e-readers, everyday documents	balance of size and clarity
High (print)	documents that will be printed	the least compression of the three

If you are unsure, start with Medium. The three levels are the standard Ghostscript presets screen, ebook and printer, which the labels in the bot follow.

When the file does not shrink

Some PDFs are already optimised. If the new file would not be smaller, the bot returns your original unchanged and the credits. A password-protected or damaged PDF cannot be opened at all; the bot says so and returns the credits too. A conversion that runs longer than 2 minutes is stopped.

What it costs

1 credit per PDF, however large or long it is, so a 300 MB scan costs the same as a one-page file. The first 10 jobs are free. After that you get 50 free credits every week, but only for files up to 50 MB; a bigger PDF needs purchased credits (see credits and prices). Files up to 4 GB are accepted.

Questions

Which level should I use to send a PDF by email?

Smallest (screen) gives the smallest file. Check that the pictures are still readable; if not, step up to Medium.

Can I compress a PDF with a password?

Not if the password is needed to open it. Remove the password first and send the file again.

Can the bot compress several PDFs in one go?

Send them one by one; each file costs 1 credit. Archives are only for images.

Does it compress SVG or Word files too?

SVG has its own action, see documents. For Word, Excel and PowerPoint the bot converts to PDF, see Word to PDF.