70 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
70 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: Compress PDF
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description: Reduce PDF file size by up to 90% with smart compression algorithms. Supports batch processing and custom quality settings.
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---
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# Compress PDF
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Shrink your PDF files without destroying them. BentoPDF offers two distinct compression algorithms -- one for text-heavy documents, another for photo-heavy scans -- so you get meaningful size reduction regardless of what your PDF contains.
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## How It Works
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1. Upload one or more PDFs by clicking the drop zone or dragging files in.
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2. Select a **Compression Algorithm** -- Condense or Photon.
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3. Pick a **Compression Level** from Light to Extreme.
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4. Optionally toggle **Convert to Grayscale** or expand **Custom Settings** for fine-grained control.
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5. Click **Compress PDF**. For multiple files, you get a single ZIP download.
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## Compression Algorithms
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### Condense (Recommended)
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The default algorithm. It removes dead weight from the PDF structure, recompresses images at a target DPI, subsets fonts to strip unused glyphs, and removes embedded thumbnails. The PDF stays fully functional -- text remains selectable, links keep working.
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Condense requires the PyMuPDF WASM engine.
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### Photon (For Photo-Heavy PDFs)
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Photon renders each page to a JPEG image and reassembles them into a new PDF. This works well for scanned documents or image-heavy files where Condense cannot squeeze much out. The trade-off is that text becomes non-selectable and hyperlinks stop working.
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## Compression Levels
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| Level | Image Quality | DPI Target | Best For |
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| -------------- | ------------- | ---------- | ------------------------------ |
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| **Light** | 90% | 150 | Preserving visual quality |
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| **Balanced** | 75% | 96 | Everyday documents |
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| **Aggressive** | 50% | 72 | Email attachments, web uploads |
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| **Extreme** | 30% | 60 | Maximum size reduction |
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## Custom Settings
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Expand the Custom Settings panel to override preset values:
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- **Output Quality** (1-100%) -- JPEG quality for recompressed images
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- **Resize Images To** (DPI) -- target resolution for downsampled images
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- **Only Process Above** (DPI) -- images below this threshold are left untouched
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- **Remove metadata** -- strips document info fields
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- **Subset fonts** -- removes unused glyphs from embedded fonts
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- **Remove embedded thumbnails** -- drops preview images stored inside the PDF
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## Use Cases
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- Bringing a 50 MB report under an email attachment limit
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- Optimizing marketing PDFs for faster website downloads
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- Archiving large document sets where storage costs matter
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- Preparing scanned contracts for a document management system
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- Reducing mobile data usage when sharing PDFs over messaging apps
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## Tips
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- Start with Balanced. If the result is still too large, step up to Aggressive before trying Extreme.
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- Use Photon only when Condense produces minimal savings -- it permanently removes text selection.
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- The grayscale toggle alone can cut file size substantially for color-heavy documents.
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## Related Tools
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- [Linearize PDF](./linearize-pdf) -- optimize the compressed PDF for fast web viewing
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- [Rasterize PDF](./rasterize-pdf) -- convert pages to images at a specific DPI
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- [Repair PDF](./repair-pdf) -- fix a PDF that broke during compression elsewhere
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- [Remove Metadata](./remove-metadata) -- strip hidden data for privacy
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