Compressing PDFs for email, the honest way
Compression isn't magic. Understanding what actually shrinks a PDF helps you hit attachment limits without wrecking quality.
Most of a typical PDF's weight is images. Text and vector content are already compact, so the biggest wins come from re-encoding embedded images at a sensible resolution and quality.
What compression can and can't do
A scanned, image-heavy document can often shrink dramatically. A clean, text-only PDF that's already small won't compress much further — and that's expected, not a failure.
- Image-heavy scans: large savings possible.
- Text-only exports: little to gain, sometimes nothing.
- Already-optimized PDFs: may not shrink at all.
PDFDig reports the before-and-after size so you can decide whether the trade-off in quality is worth it.
A practical target
Aim for the smallest file that still reads cleanly on screen. For email, getting under common attachment limits usually means lowering image quality a notch — not flattening everything to unreadable mush.
Written by The PDFDig Team