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Effectively Reduce Image Size in PDF on Windows/Mac/Online

  • By Charlotte
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  • Updated on August 13, 2025
Introduction:
You have a PDF containing photos to upload, but get stuck on the file size limit. Since any file above the limit is not accepted, you need to reduce the image size. Smaller size takes up less space and benefits sharing. So, how do you go about it if you have a PDF to reduce the image size? Editing PDFs and images in them can be challenging without the right knowledge. This post compiled the top effective ways to reduce the image size in a PDF on Windows, Mac, and online.
summary

Reduce Image Size in PDF on Windows

SwifDoo PDF is a one-stop PDF image size reducer that lets you optimize PDF and image file size for stress-free sending. The Windows application focuses on user experience and ensures a quick workflow. It offers a complete set of features to edit, convert, compress, split, and annotate PDFs.

You can only make an image smaller in an Adobe PDF or reduce the PDF size to achieve your goal.

  • Reduce the Image Size in a PDF

The effortless way to reduce the PDF image size after you convert images to a PDF is to reduce the size of the PDF directly.

Step 1: Launch the installed SwifDoo PDF, and choose Edit > Compress

Reduce Image Size in PDF on Windows 1

Step 2: Add the PDF you wish to reduce the image size in, and set the compression level to High.

Reduce Image Size in PDF on Windows 2

Step 3: Click Custom to customize the image resolution and quality, and then start compressing. 

Reduce Image Size in PDF on Windows 3

  • Reduce Image Size and Convert to PDF

SwifDoo PDF allows you to compress images to reduce image size and convert them to PDF. Here is how to reduce the image size in a PDF.

Step 1: Save your images in a folder before saving to PDF. Or, open your PDF in SwifDoo PDF to extract images from the PDF.  

Step 2: Choose Convert > Image Converter, and select Compress Image in the dialog box.

Reduce Image Size in PDF on Windows 4

Step 3: Add your images to the compressor, and click Start to reduce the image size of the PDF.

Step 4: Click Image to PDF under the Convert tab to save the images back to a PDF.

Reduce Image Size in PDF on Windows 5

Step 5: You can click an image and hit the Edit image icon to crop or resize the PDF image. You can remove unnecessary images or info to make the file size smaller.

Reduce Image Size in PDF on Windows 6

How to Reduce PDF Image Size on Mac

Adobe Acrobat can help you reduce the image size in a PDF by reducing the PDF size without losing quality. It cannot reduce image size separately. The powerful PDF software features rich tools for optimizing, page-organizing, filing, and further editing PDFs. It allows you to modify the images, pages, text, and other elements within the files. The Acrobat Pro is available for Mac.

Steps to reduce the size of a PDF image are as follows.

Step 1: Open your PDF file with Adobe Acrobat Pro on a Mac.

Step 2: Click the top File menu and select Save as Other > Reduced Size PDF.

How to Reduce PDF Image Size on Mac step 2

Step 3: Retain the compatible Acrobat versions, and click OK in the pop-up small window.

How to Reduce PDF Image Size on Mac step 3

Step 4: Enter a file name and click Save to reduce the file and image size.

Reduce Image Size in PDF Online

Pi7 PDF Tool is an image-to-PDF converter with a size reducer. It allows you to reduce the image size in a PDF file online for free to a specified size, such as 100KB. It lets you edit and merge PDF files as well as resize image pixels, crop, and compress images. The online platform has no login requirement but is ad-supported.

You can compress the PDF file or compress images saved from the PDF to reach your destination. 

Step 1: Visit the Pi7 PDF Tool website and select Compress PDF (or Compress Image > Reduce Image Size in KB) to access the PDF image size reducer.

Step 2: Click the Select PDF button to upload the PDF you need to reduce the image size in KB (or click Select Images to select the images that form the PDF).

Reduce Image Size in PDF Online step 1

Step 3: Type your target file size value in the blank box, and click Resize PDF (or Reduce Size).

Reduce Image Size in PDF Online step 3

Step 4: Wait a minute for the tool to reduce the image size in KB in a PDF until the Download button appears.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to how to reduce the image size in a PDF, figure out what kind of PDF it is.

  • If the PDF is filled only with images, use the best effortless PDF compressors. Or, use image compressors to reduce the image size before saving as a PDF.
  • If there is other stuff, such as fonts and text, you can also try deleting or discarding some useless content.
  • Using SwifDoo PDF on Windows: Whether you’re a professional or not, you can always reduce the size of the pages or only the images in a PDF. It allows you to accomplish your tasks tailored to your needs with robust editing capabilities. When you need to post images as a PDF with a size limit, take SwifDoo PDF to do file compression, image editing, PDF splitting, and more.

Mac and online users can turn to Acrobat Pro or the Pi7 PDF Tool online tools.

FAQs - People Also Ask

  • Q: How do I reduce the image size in a PDF with iLovePDF?
    There is no image size reducer in iLovePDF, but you can reduce the size of images using the iLovePDF-associated site, iLoveIMG.

    You can use iLovePDF to compress PDFs created from images. Choose the “COMPRESS PDF” tool on www.ilovepdf.com, upload the PDF version of your images, select a compression level from Extreme, Recommended, and Less options, and start compressing.

  • Q: How can I check the image size in a PDF?
    There is no straightforward method to check image size without leaving the PDF. However, you can open the PDF with SwifDoo PDF, right-click on the image to choose “Save as Image”, and right-click the saved image from the output path to check its properties.
  • Q: How do I compress pictures into a PDF?
    Select the “PNG to PDF” or other image format to PDF tool from the SwifDoo PDF online service, upload your image, and then download the converted PDF.

    Or, you can merge the pictures into a PDF in the SwifDoo PDF desktop program: Click “Convert” > “Image to PDF” > “Add Files”, import all the pictures, and select the page size to convert. Later, you can reduce the PDF image file size seamlessly from “Edit” > “Compress”.

  • Q: How do I resize an image in Adobe?
    You can resize an object in a PDF in Adobe Acrobat through the steps below:

    Step 1: Choose “Tools” > “Edit PDF”, and click “Edit”.

    Step 2: Select the image you hope to edit, and drag the bounding box handles or corners to resize the picture in the PDF.

    If you need to downsize an image in a PDF, you can crop the image. Otherwise, compress the image first and then make it into a PDF.

  • Q: How do I convert MB to KB in a PDF file?
    The Pi7 PDF Tool introduced above to reduce the PDF image size in KB is a MB to KB converter. Choose the “Resize PDF in KB” tool from the online app, upload your PDF file, specify the resulting size in KB, and click the resize button.

Charlotte has been in the software industry for 8+ years. She works for AWZWARE now as a passionate writer. She is good at providing simple guides to use various video, office and entertainment software. Charlotte also recommends many other useful tools to make your work and life easier. A food lover too.

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