Compression Presets
PulpPDF's 5 compression presets explained — from print-ready quality to smallest file size. All processing happens locally on your machine.
None — Pass-through
Copies the file as-is. Use with OCR to add searchable text without modifying the PDF.
High Quality — JPEG 85% / 300 DPI
Structural optimization + light image recompression. Print-ready quality. Typical: 10–30% reduction.
Balanced — JPEG 60% / 150 DPI
Structural optimization + moderate image recompression. Default preset — good for screen viewing and sharing. Typical: 30–60% reduction.
Maximum — JPEG 35% / 72 DPI
Structural optimization + aggressive image recompression. Best for email attachments where size matters most. Typical: 50–80% reduction.
Ultra — Rasterize Pages
Renders each page as a JPEG image at your chosen DPI (72–300), creating a new PDF from images. The "nuclear option" — smallest possible file. Typical: 70–95% reduction.
Text becomes non-selectable. Enable OCR to add a searchable text layer after rasterization.
How to Choose
| Scenario | Preset |
|---|---|
| Printing | High Quality |
| Screen viewing | Balanced |
| Email attachment | Maximum |
| Archiving scans | Balanced + OCR |
| Smallest file | Ultra 150 DPI |
| OCR only | None + OCR |
Text-Only PDFs
If your PDF has no images, High Quality through Maximum produce similar results — savings come from structural optimization only. Use Ultra for significant size reduction on text-heavy documents.