Compress PDF to 500KB
Shrink an existing PDF to under 500 KB by recompressing the images inside it and stripping unused embedded data, while leaving the page count and text untouched. Useful for portals — Indian government recruitment forms in particular — that cap the whole PDF upload at an exact size.
What actually shrinks
Most of a scanned PDF's size comes from the page images, not the text layer, so compression targets those first. If the PDF is already mostly text, the size drop will be smaller — text-only PDFs are usually well under most KB caps already.
Before you upload
Recruitment and admission portals that ask for a PDF under 500 KB usually reject the file outright rather than warning you, so it's worth compressing and checking the final size before you reach the upload step, not after a rejected submission.
How it works
Frequently asked questions
Will compressing to 500 KB make the text blurry?
Selectable text stays crisp — only embedded page/scan images are recompressed.
Does it work on a password-protected PDF?
Unlock it first with the Unlock PDF tool, then compress.
Can I check the exact output size before downloading?
Yes, the resulting size is shown on screen right after compression, before you download.
Reviewed by Manoj Pathak & Pallavi Yadav, Toolzo team — updated 23 September 2026.