Compress PDF

Reduce the size of a PDF without wrecking its quality. FileAlloy compresses PDFs through a fast, private API: pick a quality level, send the file, get a smaller one back. Files are processed in memory and never stored, and there is a free tier to start.

Files are processed in memory and never stored.

How to use Compress PDF

Get a free API key Create an account at app.filealloy.com and generate a key. The free plan is enough to start.
POST your PDF Send the file to /v1/compress with your key and an optional level (low, medium, or high).
Get the smaller file The compressed PDF comes straight back in the response, ready to store or serve.

Why FileAlloy

Three quality levels

Choose low (72dpi, smallest), medium (150dpi, balanced), or high (300dpi, best quality).

Nothing kept

The upload lives in memory only for the length of the request, then it is gone. No disk writes, no logs.

Hosted in the EU

Requests are served from European data centres, which keeps GDPR handling straightforward.

Repeatable

The same file and level give back the same PDF every time, so results are safe to cache and automate.

Do it at scale with the API

Shrinking PDFs in a backend, upload pipeline, or email flow? The same operation is a single call to /v1/compress, so you can batch and automate it with no browser.

curl -X POST https://api.filealloy.com/v1/compress \
  -H "X-API-Key: fa_live_your_key" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf" \
  -F "level=medium" \
  -o compressed.pdf

Get an API key

Frequently asked questions

How much smaller will my PDF get?

It depends on the content. Scans and image-heavy PDFs shrink the most; the level you pick (low, medium, high) trades size against quality.

Are my files stored?

No. Files are processed in memory and deleted immediately after the response. We never write them to disk or logs.

Is there a free option?

Yes. The free plan includes a monthly request quota, and paid plans add higher volume at sub-cent per call.

Does compression change the text?

No. Text and structure stay intact. Compression mainly re-samples images and removes redundant data.

What is the endpoint?

POST /v1/compress with the file as multipart form data and an optional level field.

Can I compress many PDFs at once?

Call the endpoint once per file. It is fast and stateless, so you can run it in parallel across a batch.