Files never leave your device.How it works
How to compress a PDF to 150 KB
- 1Drop your PDF above (or click to select).
- 2Click Compress — we find the best quality that stays under 150 KB.
- 3Download the result, or see the smallest we could reach.
Frequently asked questions
- How is 150 KB different from 100 KB?
- The extra 50 KB lets a single-page scan keep a bit more detail and readability. If your form allows 150 KB, prefer it over 100 KB for the better-looking result.
- Will the text stay readable?
- Yes. Pages with real text keep it selectable — only images are re-encoded. Scanned pages are re-encoded at a sensible resolution.
- Do my files get uploaded?
- No — everything runs in your browser. Your PDF never leaves your device.
A little more room to work with
Some portals sit just above the 100 KB line and accept up to 150 KB. That small margin matters: it lets a scanned page or an image-bearing document keep more of its detail while still passing the limit. HivePDF targets the highest quality that stays under 150 KB and stops there.
Getting the best result
Text-based PDFs land under 150 KB easily. A one- or two-page scan usually fits with noticeably better clarity than it would at 100 KB. For a long, image-heavy document that still won't fit, split it or lower the scan resolution first — and if 150 KB truly isn't reachable, HivePDF reports the smallest clean size instead of returning a broken file.
How this compares to picking a quality level yourself
The general compressor lets you choose a quality tier — High quality, Recommended, or Small file — rather than a target size, and for many single-page documents the Recommended tier happens to land somewhere close to 150 KB anyway. The advantage of aiming at a target size directly is that it works backwards from the number a form actually requires, so you don't have to guess and re-download if the guess falls short.
Combining documents that each need to fit
If a portal asks for a single PDF under 150 KB but you're starting from a CV and a separate certificate, combine them first — most of the size in a scanned or photographed document lives in its images, so merging the pieces before compressing usually reaches the target more reliably than compressing each one separately and hoping the combined size still holds. Use Merge PDF to combine the pages, then run the result through this tool.