Every file you touch here stays on your machine.
PDF, image, developer, SEO, text, student and business tools — all free, all entirely in your browser. No upload, no account, no server ever sees your data.
The toolset
Focused tools covering the everyday PDF work — pick one to get started, no account needed.
How this actually works
Each tool runs entirely with JavaScript already loaded in this page — PDF tools via pdf-lib and pdf.js, image tools via the browser's native Canvas API, and everything else with plain JavaScript. Your files or input are read into browser memory, processed, and handed back as a download or copyable result. This page itself is served by a small Laravel route; Laravel never sees your files either. The only backend in use is Supabase, and only for two optional things: signing in with a magic link, and — only if you're signed in — a log of which tool you ran and when. Two things have real limits worth knowing up front: Compress PDF flattens each page to a re-encoded image (great for scan-heavy PDFs, not ideal if you need selectable text after), and Word/Excel/PowerPoint ⇄ PDF conversion genuinely requires a server-side rendering engine, so it isn't included here — this build only ships tools that can honestly run client-side.
Questions people actually ask
Will compressing reduce quality?
Yes, by design — every page is re-rendered as an image at the quality level you choose. It's a real trade-off between file size and sharpness, not a free lunch.
How much smaller will my file get?
It depends how much of the file is images versus text — an image-heavy scanned PDF shrinks far more than a mostly-text document.
Why does the text stop being selectable after compressing?
Compress re-renders every page as a picture at your chosen quality, so what was real, selectable text becomes part of an image. That's what makes the size reduction possible — it isn't a bug.
Can I choose exactly how much compression to apply?
Yes — a quality slider from 30% to 92% controls the trade-off between file size and sharpness; drag it and re-run to compare results.
Can I compress a scanned PDF?
Yes — scanned or image-heavy PDFs usually shrink the most, since they're already mostly images being re-encoded at a lower bitrate.
Will compressing a text-only PDF do much?
Not usually much — there's little to re-encode. A scanned or image-heavy PDF sees far bigger reductions.
Can I undo compression?
No — it's one-way. Keep your original file if you might need the selectable-text version again later.
Does it work on very long PDFs?
Yes — very large page counts render at a slightly reduced scale automatically to keep memory use and processing time reasonable.
Can I compress multiple files at once?
No — one file at a time; run it again for additional files.
Is there a way to target a specific file size, like under 1MB?
Not directly — you control the quality percentage, and the resulting size is shown once it's done. Lower the slider and re-run if you need it smaller.
Does compressing remove metadata?
No — it only re-encodes the visual content of each page. Use Edit PDF Metadata separately if you also want to clear the title, author, or other fields.
Can I compress a password-protected PDF?
Not directly — the password needs to be removed first, since the tool can't open an encrypted file to read its pages.
Can I preview the result before downloading?
Not as a live preview, but the status message shows the exact before-and-after file size once it finishes, so you can immediately try a different quality level if needed.
Is this really free, and is there a file size limit?
Yes — no account, no paywall. Since processing happens in your browser's memory rather than uploading anywhere, the practical limit is your device's available RAM, not a server quota. Very large files (500+ pages) may run slower, especially for Compress and PDF→JPG.
Does anything about my file get sent anywhere?
No. Every tool runs with pdf-lib/pdf.js loaded in this page; your file is read into browser memory and never leaves it. The only network call this app makes for your account is Supabase auth — and that only stores which tool you ran and when, never file content.
Why isn't Word/Excel/PowerPoint → PDF included?
Converting Office formats accurately needs a real rendering engine (what Word or LibreOffice use internally) — no browser library does this reliably. Rather than ship a broken version, it's left out.
Does TechDriven Tools have OCR (text recognition)?
Yes — OCR PDF recognizes text in scanned or photographed pages using Tesseract.js, running entirely on your device, and gives you a searchable PDF or a plain text file. Nothing is uploaded for this either.
Can I use this without an internet connection?
Once the page and its libraries have loaded once, yes — the tools themselves need no network access. Signing in and viewing history do require a connection, since those talk to Supabase.
What happens to the "history" if I sign in?
Only a row per tool run — the tool's name and a timestamp. No filename, no file content, ever. You can see the full list any time via the History button.
Are the non-PDF utilities (password generator, JSON formatter, etc.) private too?
Yes — same rule as the PDF tools. Word Counter, Case Converter, Password Generator, UUID Generator, Base64, Hash Generator, JSON Formatter and JWT Decoder all run with plain JavaScript already loaded in this page; nothing you type or paste is sent anywhere.
Compress PDF, in depth
100% free, browser-only, no registration, works on mobile, adjustable quality.
Features
Adjustable Quality
A slider from 30% to 92% controls the size-vs-sharpness trade-off.
Works Best on Scans
Image-heavy, scanned PDFs shrink the most.
Instant Feedback
See the exact before-and-after size the moment it finishes.
No File Size Limit
Bounded only by your device's memory, not a server quota.
Private by Design
Every page stays on your device throughout.
Instant
No server round-trip, so there's no upload wait.
Works on Mobile
Same slider, same tool, on a phone browser.
Free Forever
No account, no page limit, no watermark.
Why use Compress PDF
- Fit under an email attachment limit without switching to a file-sharing link.
- Speed up uploads to portals that cap file size.
- Save storage space on a phone or shared drive.
- Make large scanned documents easier to send over a slow connection.
- Reduce a bulky, image-heavy PDF to something practical to distribute.
- Keep an archive copy smaller without needing special software.
Supported uses
Email Attachments
Scanned Document Archives
Portal & Form Uploads
Shared Drive Storage
Large Photo-Heavy Reports
Slow-Connection Sharing
How TechDriven Tools compares
| Feature | TechDriven Tools | Other Online Compressors | Desktop Software | Built-in OS Tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | Instant, no upload | Depends on upload speed | Depends on install | Varies |
| Privacy | Never leaves your device | Varies — check the site's policy | Local, but often needs install/updates | Local |
| Installation | None — runs in browser | None | Download & install required | Usually pre-installed, but limited |
| Mobile-friendly | Yes | Varies | No | Varies |
| Free | Always | Often freemium / capped | Often paid | Free, but basic |
| Quality control | Adjustable slider | Often fixed presets only | Full control | Little to no control |
| Ease of use | One slider | Drag and drop | Menu-driven | Varies |
Privacy
- Files are never stored — nothing is written to a server, ever.
- All processing happens in your browser, using pdf.js and pdf-lib.
- No registration or account required to use any of this.
- Nothing is transmitted, so there's nothing in transit to intercept.
- Downloads come straight from your browser's own memory to your device.
What is PDF Compression
PDF compression reduces a file's size, usually by re-encoding the images that make up its pages at a lower quality. For a document made mostly of scanned pages or embedded photos, that can mean shrinking a file dramatically; for a page of pure text, there's much less to compress, since text itself is already compact.
Benefits
The main benefit is practicality: a smaller file uploads faster, fits under an email attachment cap, and takes up less space wherever it's stored. This matters most for scanned documents and reports full of photos, where the original file can be many times larger than it needs to be for the actual purpose of sharing or archiving it.
Best Practices
- Start around the default 65% quality and only go lower if the result is still too large — dropping straight to 30% is rarely necessary and costs more sharpness than needed.
- Compress after merging multiple files, not before, if you're combining several PDFs — one pass catches everything at once.
- Keep your original file. Compression is one-way, and if you need the selectable, searchable text version back, only the uncompressed original has it.
- For a text-heavy document that's already small, skip compression entirely — there's little to gain and no reason to rasterize text that's already compact.
Common Mistakes
The most common mistake is compressing a file that's already mostly text and being surprised the size barely changes — compression works on images, and a page of text has very little image data to shrink. The second is compressing repeatedly at a low quality expecting further gains each time; re-compressing an already-compressed PDF just degrades it further without meaningfully reducing size again, since the heavy lifting already happened in the first pass.
Quality vs. File Size
There's a real trade-off here, not a trick: lower quality means a smaller file and more visible compression artifacts, especially in photos or fine print. Higher quality keeps things sharp but saves less space. The right setting depends entirely on the purpose — an internal working copy can tolerate more compression than a document going to print.
Security
Because every page is rendered and re-encoded directly in your browser, compressing a sensitive document — a scanned contract, a medical record, a financial statement — never involves sending it anywhere first. The file exists only on your device before, during, and after the process.
Mobile Compression
The quality slider works the same way with a finger as with a mouse, and the result downloads directly to your phone. There's no need to compress a file on a desktop first just because it started as a phone photo or scan.
Business and Education Use Cases
In an office, this is the tool for getting a scanned signed contract or a photo-heavy report small enough to email without hitting an attachment limit. In education, it's shrinking a scanned assignment or a slide-heavy handout before uploading it to a portal that caps file size — without needing any software beyond a browser.