How to Change PDF Size

Elise Williams

2023-04-13 17:06:35 • Filed to: How-To-Windows • Proven solutions

To properly change PDF size for all your document workflows, you need to have the right tools. Not all PDF compression tools can do this without negatively impacting the quality of your output files. Fortunately, there are several tools to change PDF file size that you can download, and there are also ways to change PDF size online. Let's look at two such PDF editors that will help change PDF resolution and compress images, so the output file is significantly smaller than the original but the overall integrity of the content is maintained.

Method 1: How to Change PDF File Size

Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor is a premium editor that offers a free feature to change PDF paper size or file size. With this robust tool, you can not only change the size of PDF documents but also do a wide array of other actions, which we'll review in a bit. First, let's see the process to change PDF resolution using this versatile software.

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Step 1. Open the PDF File

Open the PDF file that you want to change file size for. You can use the "Open files" link in the welcome page or just drag the file into the PDFelement interface to open it.

Step 2. Change PDF File Size

Use the "Tool" > "Optimize PDF" menu option to open the "Optimize PDF" page. Here, you'll see a slider that controls the quality and resolution of the output file. If you intend to upload the file to the web for online access, choose the highest compression. This will give you the lowest quality possible without affecting the overall quality of the content in the PDF.

Hit the "Apply" button to execute the "change PDF size" process and wait for it to finish. You can now download the smaller file and use it for whatever purpose you want. If you go to "File" > "Properties", the file size displayed there will show you the extent to which the file has been compressed.

Next, let's look at some of the other things you can do with PDFelement.

Edit any element or component of a PDF file, add or remove content, resize content blocks, and reposition them to generate new layouts. This tool gives you full control over watermarks, footers/headers, notes, comments, hyperlinks, etc.
Annotate PDFs easily with a wide range of tools for reviewing, commenting, and marking up. Includes underlining, highlighting, shapes, text boxes, sticky notes, and more. Even embed rich media content like videos as comments.
Create PDFs from scratch or convert from other formats. Over 300 file types are supported, which means you can digitize your entire workflow to store in a secure server or a cloud service like Dropbox.
Convert PDFs to more than a dozen document, image, eBook, and online formats, so they can be edited in their native applications, such as MS Word, PowerPoint, etc.
Create and fill PDF forms, extract form data, convert non-editable forms to interactive PDFs - comprehensive forms management capabilities at your fingertips.
Scan to PDF, convert to editable PDF with OCR, execute batch processes for large workflow queues, and do a lot more with PDFelement's advanced features.

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Method 2: How to Change PDF Size Online for Free

If you want to change the PDF size online without buying software or downloading any software to a PC or Mac, you can use the HiPDF to change PDF size. All you need to do is upload the file directly to the secure web page for PDF optimization, choose the output quality, and download the file to your desktop or save it to a connected cloud storage service. The steps are outlined below:

1. Go to the HiPDF Compress PDF web page and click the "Choose File" button. You can also drag the file into the browser window once you're on that page.
2. Select the compression and quality level using the slider tool, then hit the "Compress" button.
3. Click the "Download" button to save it to your desktop or use the cloud service icons to save on a connected service.