Bindery achieves the reduction by resampling embedded images to a resolution target — 96 DPI for Email & web, 150 DPI for Balanced — and re-encoding them, keeping the new image only when it saves real space. Lossless Print cleanup rewrites the structure without touching a pixel, which is why it helps text documents but rarely rescues a scan. Text is never rasterized. If nothing fits, Extract pages lets you submit only the pages the application actually asks for. The file stays in your browser throughout; nothing about your application is transmitted to Bindery.
How it works
- Drop the PDF and open Compress
- Wait a moment for the three real sizes to appear on the cards
- Pick the level under 300 KB and download; extract pages if none qualifies
Questions people ask
Why does my text-only PDF barely shrink?
Because text and vector graphics are already compact. Compression on such files comes from structural cleanup — object streams, duplicate streams stored once — and yields a few percent. If a text-only PDF is somehow over 300 KB, an embedded font or a hidden image is usually the reason.
Should I pick Balanced or Email & web?
Pick the largest level that still fits. Balanced keeps images at 150 DPI and looks the same as the original at everyday zoom; Email & web at 96 DPI is for screen reading only. Both sizes are on the cards, so the choice is a comparison, not a gamble.
Does the free plan cover this?
Yes. All 47 tools are free with ten completed jobs per UTC day, no account, and no file-size cap of Bindery’s own — your device’s memory is the practical limit. Cancelled jobs do not count against the ten. Pro is $5 a month if you need unlimited jobs.