Guide · PDF → Smaller PDF
How to Compress a PDF Offline on Your PC (Free, No Upload)
Upload limits often force you to shrink a PDF, but contracts, IDs and bank statements should not go through a random website. Rotiva compresses PDFs locally.
How to do it (3 steps)
- Start dragging your PDF.
- Press Shift while you keep holding the mouse button.
- Point at COMPRESS and let go. The smaller PDF is saved next to the original.
New to Rotiva? Install it, then look for the wheel icon in the system tray.
Get Rotiva free
Windows, macOS & Linux · No limits · No ads · 100% offline
What gets smaller
Rotiva uses Ghostscript and downsizes images in the PDF to 150 dpi. Scanned documents and photo-heavy files usually shrink the most.
When a PDF barely shrinks
A file that is mostly text is already small, so there may be little to remove. You can also split a long PDF on the same wheel and send only the pages you need.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. Compression runs on your computer and works without an internet connection.
Will text stay sharp?
The compression targets images, so normal text stays readable. Check scanned pages after compressing, because a scan is itself an image.
Get Rotiva free
Windows, macOS & Linux · No limits · No ads · 100% offline