Compress a PDF to under 2 MB

How it works

1. Drop the PDF. It is read in the browser and never leaves your computer.
2. Nothing to set: the target is 2 MB and the compression level follows from it.
3. Press the button. A black-and-white scan usually arrives well under; a colour one lands closer to the line.
4. Check the size in the list before you submit it, because a portal that rejects the file rarely says by how much.

Frequently asked questions

Which forms ask for 2 MB?

It is the most common cap on government portals — tax filings, benefit claims, land registry entries and court submissions. It is set where it is because that is roughly a scanned document of ordinary length, and those systems receive millions of them.

How many pages actually fit?

Twenty or so pages of black-and-white scanned text, comfortably. In colour, more like five before the quality has to start dropping — colour costs roughly three times as much per page for the same readability.

The portal rejected it anyway. What now?

Check what the portal counts. Some cap the whole submission rather than each file, so three attachments of 2 MB fail against a 2 MB total. Splitting a long document and submitting the parts separately is usually the way through, and there is a page for that too.

Is the text still selectable afterwards?

Yes. Only the images are re-encoded; a text layer is carried across untouched, so copying, searching and screen readers all still work.

Is my file uploaded?

No. The PDF is opened, re-encoded and rebuilt inside the browser tab. Nothing is sent to a server, which matters rather a lot for a tax return.