PDF compression happens right here in your browser tab. Nothing is uploaded to a server — open your network tab if you don't believe it.
Heads up — this works by re-rendering each page as a compressed image. It's a great way to shrink a large PDF (especially ones full of scanned pages or big images), but it converts every page to a flattened image — selectable/searchable text in the original will not remain selectable in the output. If you need to keep text selectable, this isn't the right tool for that file.
Every tool on Quikbench follows the same rule: your files are read, converted, and turned into a download entirely inside this browser tab — nothing is ever uploaded to a server.
Reads each page of your PDF locally using pdf.js, redraws it onto a canvas at a chosen resolution, compresses that image as a JPEG, and rebuilds a new, smaller PDF from those images using pdf-lib. Nothing is uploaded.
High quality keeps resolution close to the original — use this if the PDF will be printed or viewed zoomed in. Balanced is a good default for sharing or emailing. Maximum compression gets the smallest possible file, useful when a strict upload size limit is the priority over visual sharpness.
The most reliable way to shrink a PDF in-browser, without a server doing the heavy lifting, is to flatten each page into a single re-compressed image — the same approach most "scan to PDF" apps use. The trade-off is that any text in the original becomes part of a picture rather than real text, so it can no longer be selected, searched, or copied. If you need to keep your PDF's text intact, this tool isn't the right fit — it's built specifically for cutting file size.
Choose a compression level on this tool — it re-encodes embedded images at a lower quality to shrink the overall file size while keeping the PDF readable.
Yes, to some degree — that's how the file size is reduced. Lower compression levels keep more quality; higher compression levels prioritize smaller size. Try a moderate setting first.