Optimize is a lighter-touch alternative to full compression, aimed at web/email-friendly file sizes while keeping visual quality close to the original — useful when Compress feels too aggressive for a document with important images.
Works best for brochures and reports where image quality matters.
Web for fast online viewing, Print to keep high-resolution images, Archive for maximum quality.
Web-optimized files open page by page in a browser without waiting for the whole download.
| You want to… | Use this tool |
|---|---|
| Main goal | Smaller file with near-original quality |
| Images | Reduced gently for the target use |
| Browser loading | Linearized so the first page shows quickly |
| Best for | Brochures, image-heavy reports, web downloads |
Web developers optimize PDFs to reduce page load times for downloadable resources, brochures, and whitepapers.
Sales teams optimize proposal PDFs to fit email size limits while preserving readability.
Compliance teams batch-optimize archived PDFs to cut S3 storage bills by 50-80% without losing content.
Optimize targets a smaller, safer size reduction that protects image quality; Compress offers more aggressive presets for maximum size savings.
No. Optimize is lossless for text and intelligent for images. The visual output is indistinguishable from the original for typical use cases.
Web (smallest, for online viewing where images can be lower-DPI), Print (preserves high-DPI images), Archive (max quality, only metadata cleanup).
Only hidden/unused form fields are removed. Active form fields are preserved. Toggle "Preserve all fields" if you want to keep even unused ones.
Unlock first with our Unlock PDF tool. Encrypted PDFs cannot be optimized directly.
40-80% typical, depending on source PDF. PDFs with many embedded fonts and large images optimize the most.
Yes — 30 optimizations per day for guests, more on free accounts. No watermark on output.
No. Optimize may modify metadata in ways incompatible with PDF/A. For archival, use our PDF to PDF/A tool instead.
Reduces your file size without losing important quality or content.
Extracts readable text from scanned documents and image files.
Merges all form fields and annotations into a static non-editable PDF.
Fixes corrupted or damaged PDF files and recovers readable content.
