Only embedded images are resampled and re-encoded, and only when the result is at least 8% smaller; text stays text, links, bookmarks and form fields survive, duplicated streams are stored once, and compressing twice never degrades a file. The document never leaves the browser tab. Heavy jobs run in a background worker and can be cancelled. Compress is not part of the bindery-pdf CLI — its command set covers merge, split, extract, crop, flatten, N-up, watermark, page numbers, stamps, resize, repair and metadata — so for compression use the browser. The published benchmark shows measured results.
How it works
- Open Bindery in Firefox or Chrome and drop the PDF into Compress
- Compare the three computed sizes on the cards
- Download the level that fits; check small text at 200% zoom
Questions people ask
Is this better than Ghostscript?
Different: Ghostscript rewrites the whole file through its interpreter with a preset, which can drop fonts, fields or bookmarks. Bindery re-encodes only images, leaves everything else intact, and shows the size of each level before you commit. For scripted batch compression on a server, Ghostscript remains a fine tool.
Can I compress from the command line with bindery-pdf?
Not currently. The CLI and Node library expose merge, extract, split, crop, flatten, nup, watermark, pageNumbers, stamp, resize, repair and stripMetadata; compression lives in the browser app, where it runs in a background worker with the three computed candidates. The compressor’s code does ship inside the package, but no command exposes it yet.
Does it work in Firefox on Linux?
Yes, and in Chrome and Chromium. All processing is in-browser, so there are no system dependencies. Chrome and Chromium additionally let you install Bindery as an app and save results straight into a folder of your choice. Firefox runs it as an ordinary page with every tool available.