A 100 KB limit can push a scan well down the ladder, so it is worth knowing what the lower settings do. Text is never rasterised: typed words stay sharp and selectable at every setting. Scanned pages can be separated into a crisp black-and-white text mask over a low-resolution background, which helps words stay readable at low settings, and an existing OCR text layer is kept — but check small print at 200% zoom before you send it. Only the last three settings, from 72 DPI down to 50, turn images grayscale, and only when colour cannot fit; the card names the setting it used next to the real size. If nothing fits, Bindery shows the smallest size the file reaches and why — text, fonts and structure alone exceed 100 KB, or the pictures are still too heavy at the lowest setting — and offers Split into parts under 100 KB. On the free plan the limit applies to the watermarked file you download. The file never leaves your browser.
How it works
- Drop the PDF — Compress opens with the 100 KB limit set and starts measuring settings on your device
- Read the “Under 100 KB” card: the real size and the setting chosen — or, if it cannot fit, the smallest size, with the reason in the note under the size box
- Check small print at 200% zoom and download — or choose Split into parts under 100 KB
Questions people ask
What kind of PDF can realistically get under 100 KB?
A short typed document — a letter, a form, a CV — may already be under the limit or get there with the lossless pass, in which case the card says “lossless — every pixel identical”. A single scanned page can often reach a setting that fits, sometimes only one of the grayscale ones. With several scanned pages, 100 KB can run out: every page is a picture, and even at 50 DPI in grayscale they add up. Not every image is reduced, either — a photo over 40 megapixels, or one the browser cannot decode, is kept as it is. Instead of a rule of thumb, you get the measured result for your own file.
Will the file I download really be under 100 KB?
The size on the card is the real size of the file Bindery wrote, not a prediction, and Bindery counts 100 KB as 100,000 bytes — slightly less than the 102,400 of a 1,024-byte kilobyte, so it meets the stricter reading. On the free plan the download also carries the small “Made with Bindery” line, so the final size check runs after it is added; if that tips the file over, the search runs again with less room, and if it still cannot fit, the done screen says so rather than hiding it.
What if Bindery says the file cannot get under 100 KB?
It shows the smallest size it reached and names the reason. If text, fonts and structure alone are over 100 KB, no image setting can help; what helps is sending less, such as extracting only the page the form asks for. If the pictures are what remains, Split into parts under 100 KB opens Split with that smallest version and the limit already filled in, and measures each part by really writing it. A page that is over 100 KB on its own cannot be divided: it still becomes its own part, and the done screen tells you how many parts are a single page that is still over the limit.