Compress PDF to 1 MB

Get a scanned PDF under 1 MB for an upload or an email. NightOwl keeps the best quality that fits under 1 MB, and the text stays searchable.

Open Compress PDF to 1 MB

What you can do

Opens with Under a size set to 1 MB: choose your PDF and press Compress PDF.
NightOwl tries a few settings and keeps the sharpest file under 1 MB.
It aims under 1 MB counted as 1 KB = 1,000 bytes, so the file passes forms that count either way.
Text in the file stays searchable, and your edits and redactions are kept.
If it cannot get there while the text stays readable, it says so, gives you the smallest file it can make, and offers Split PDF.

How to do it

Open Compress PDF to 1 MB and choose your PDF.
Check that Under a size shows 1 MB, then press Compress PDF.
See the new size, then Download.

Good to know

Many upload forms and some email services stop at 1 MB, which a phone scan of a few pages passes easily.
Measured on made-up documents at High quality, the sharpest setting: about 26 KB a page for a clean scan, 48 KB for a phone photo and 86 KB for a greyer scan.
Only pictures are made smaller: a file that is mostly typed text, or already small, may not shrink much.
Works in your browser. Scans you choose to read on our India server aren’t kept. Private mode keeps everything on your device.

Questions

How many pages fit in 1 MB?

Roughly 10 to 20 scanned or photographed pages at the sharpest setting, depending on how busy and how grey the pages are, and more with the coarser settings.

Is 1 MB here 1,000 KB or 1,024 KB?

NightOwl aims under 1,000,000 bytes, the smaller of the two, so the file is under 1 MB whichever way a form counts.