Compress a PDF to 2 MB
Treat 2 MB as a measurable acceptance condition. The correct result is a readable document below the portal’s own ceiling—not merely a smaller file.
Read the portal rule literally
A label such as “2 MB maximum” is a hard file-size ceiling, not a request to remove two megabytes. Record the required unit, whether the portal counts the whole packet or each file, and whether it accepts PDF at all.
Do not rely on the rounded size shown in Finder or Explorer. The final output should be below the limit with a small margin because different interfaces round bytes differently.
- ■Whole packet or per file?
- ■PDF required or images accepted?
- ■2 MB or 2,000 KB wording?
- ■Any page or resolution rule?
Start with the source quality
Scanned color pages are usually much larger than exported text documents. Crop blank margins, remove accidental duplicate pages, and use a clean source before aggressive compression.
If the document contains forms, signatures, links, selectable text, or accessibility tags, keep the original. A raster compressor may flatten those features even when every page still looks correct.
Aim below, then inspect
Set the declared target, run the smallest acceptable quality pass, and confirm the reported byte size. If the result remains above 2 MB, a tool should say so rather than label the attempt successful.
Open the downloaded PDF. Check names, numbers, signatures, QR codes, stamps, small footnotes, page order, and every required page at 100% and 200% zoom.
- ■Final bytes below the limit
- ■All pages present and ordered
- ■Small text remains legible
- ■Portal validation still passes
Put the limit first
Run one local compression pass, then inspect every page before submitting.
Open the compressor →