Smart Compression: Balancing Size vs. Clarity
Compressing a PDF is a balancing act. If you compress too much, text becomes unreadable (pixelated). If you compress too little, the file size barely changes. Most online tools use a "one size fits all" approach that often ruins text documents.
The Open Tools Smart PDF Compressor gives you control. We use an adaptive scaling engine that adjusts the DPI (Dots Per Inch) based on your needs.
Which Mode Should You Choose?
1. Balanced (Recommended)
This renders the page at Scale 1.0 (Standard Screen Resolution) and applies 70% JPEG quality. This is the best starting point for most documents.
2. Extreme Compression
This lowers the scale to 0.8 and quality to 50%. Text will look slightly soft, but the file size will be drastically reduced. Use this for archiving.
3. High Quality
This renders at Scale 1.5. Use this if your document contains small text that became unreadable in Balanced mode. Note: This may increase file size for some documents.
Why did my file get bigger?
If you upload a text-only PDF (generated by Word) that is only 50KB, converting it to images might make it 200KB. This tool is designed for Scanned PDFs and Image-Heavy Documents (portfolios, slides). It detects if the new file is larger and warns you.