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Portals, visas, and job sites

Get a PDF under an upload size limit

University forms, visa sites, and applicant trackers love a “max 2 MB” rule and hate explaining how. Use flatten for photo-heavy scans when you need the smallest file. Shrink embedded images when you still need selectable text. Work happens here, not on our servers.

Compression runs in this tab. Your PDF is never uploaded. Results vary; we show both sizes.

No files yet. Drop them above. They stay in this tab and are never uploaded.

Honest note: browser compression is best-effort. Photo-heavy PDFs often shrink; text-only files may not. You’ll see original vs new size when it’s done.

Method

When to use this

Use this when a form says max 2 MB (or 1, or 5) and the file picker refuses the original. Job sites, visa uploads, and university portals are the usual reason.

Flatten is the aggressive path for camera scans. Shrink embedded images is kinder to text-heavy PDFs and keeps words selectable when it can. This page starts on flatten because upload caps are rarely generous.

If the site also demands exact page size (A4, 35×45 mm photos), those rules are separate. This tool only fights bytes.

How to do it

  1. Drop the PDF the portal rejected.
  2. Keep flatten for scans. Use shrink images if the form still needs copy-paste text.
  3. Use 1200 px and Smaller quality first. Nudge up only if the preview looks too mushy.
  4. Check the new size. If it is under the cap, download and retry the form.

Tips

  • Read the real limit. Going far under 2 MB when 2 MB is allowed only makes the scan softer.
  • IDs and passports should not go to an upload-based compressor. This page keeps the file in your browser.
  • If it will not go under 500 KB, extract a single page or rebuild from photos at a lower JPEG quality.

Questions

Can you guarantee it will land under 2 MB?
No. Very detailed scans have a floor. We show original vs new size. If it is still over, extract pages or start from smaller photos.
Will the portal still reject a flattened PDF?
Most accept any PDF. A few insist on selectable text or a PDF/A profile. This tool cannot mint PDF/A.
Do you store the file I am about to upload somewhere else?
No. Compression is local. You then upload the download to the portal yourself.