Reduce PDF file size with advanced options

Last updated on Aug 16, 2025

Learn to compress PDF files in Adobe Acrobat for easy sharing and storage.

Windows

Select Menu > Save as Other > Optimized PDF.

In the dialog box that opens, select Standard from the Settings dropdown menu.

To customize the file size and quality, adjust settings in the following panels as needed:

  • Images: Reduce file size by downsampling and compressing images.
  • Fonts: Reduce file size by unembedding or subsetting the fonts.
  • Transparency: Reduce file size by lowering the quality of transparent objects and flattening transparency effects.
  • Discard Objects: Remove elements like embedded thumbnails, search indexes, and flatten form fields to reduce file size.
  • Discard User Data: Remove comments, forms, multimedia, and private data to decrease file size.
  • Clean Up: Remove invalid elements such as bookmarks or links and preparing PDF for fast web view.

In the Make compatible with dropdown menu, select the desired compatibility for Acrobat versions.

Note

Selecting an older version of Acrobat may limit compression features.

Select OK.

Choose a location to save the compressed PDF, enter a filename, and then select Save.

macOS

Select File > Save as Other > Optimized PDF.

In the dialog box that opens, select Standard from the Settings dropdown menu.

To customize the file size and quality, adjust settings in the following panels as needed:

  • Images: Reduce file size by downsampling and compressing images.
  • Fonts: Reduce file size by unembedding or subsetting the fonts.
  • Transparency: Reduce file size by lowering the quality of transparent objects and flattening transparency effects.
  • Discard Objects: Remove elements like embedded thumbnails, search indexes, and flatten form fields to reduce file size.
  • Discard User Data: Remove comments, forms, multimedia, and private data to decrease file size.
  • Clean Up: Remove invalid elements such as bookmarks or links and preparing PDF for fast web view.

In the Make compatible with dropdown menu, select the desired compatibility for Acrobat versions.

Note

Selecting an older version of Acrobat may limit compression features.

Select OK.

Choose a location to save the compressed PDF, enter a filename, and then select Save.