Best PDF Compressor for Government & Online Forms
Government portals (USCIS, IRS, UK.gov, Hacienda, impots.gouv.fr) and job applications often cap uploads at 2-5 MB. Here are the fastest ways to get your PDF under the limit.
1
Konomic Compress (exact-size)
Best exact-target compression
Has dedicated pages for common government form limits: /compress-pdf-to/2mb, /5mb, /1mb, /500kb. Binary search over DPI hits target within ±5%. Free.
2
iLovePDF Compress
Well-known alternative
Three preset levels. No exact-size target. Free tier works up to 100 MB input.
3
Smallpdf Compress
Clean UI
Two presets. 2 ops/day on free. Simple but limited.
4
Ghostscript CLI
Full manual control
For devs: `gs -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen -sOutputFile=out.pdf in.pdf`. Aggressive compression, not great for photos.
Ready to try our #1 pick?
Konomic Compress (exact-size) — free, no signup required.
Try Konomic Compress (exact-size) free →