# pdf compression

## With `gs`on thinlinc

Source: [https://itsfoss.com/compress-pdf-linux/](https://itsfoss.com/compress-pdf-linux/)

Via commandline:

```
gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile=compressed_PDF_file.pdf input_PDF_file.pdf
```

You have these compression options:

<table border="1" id="bkmrk-dpdfsettings-descrip" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 89.6px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 50%;"></col><col style="width: 50%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 22.4px;"><td data-darkreader-inline-border-right-short="" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right: var(--border-width) solid var(--color-border); border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: var(--line-height-base); padding: var(--gap-sm) var(--gap); --darkreader-inline-border-right-short: var(--darkreader-border--border-width) solid var(--darkreader-border--color-border); height: 22.4px;">dPDFSETTINGS</td><td data-darkreader-inline-border-right="" style="border-width: 0px medium 0px 0px; border-style: solid none solid solid; border-right: medium; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: var(--line-height-base); padding: var(--gap-sm) var(--gap); --darkreader-inline-border-right: currentcolor; height: 22.4px;">Description</td></tr><tr style="height: 22.4px;"><td data-darkreader-inline-border-right-short="" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right: var(--border-width) solid var(--color-border); border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: var(--line-height-base); padding: var(--gap-sm) var(--gap); --darkreader-inline-border-right-short: var(--darkreader-border--border-width) solid var(--darkreader-border--color-border); height: 22.4px;">/prepress (default)</td><td data-darkreader-inline-border-right="" style="border-width: 0px medium 0px 0px; border-style: solid none solid solid; border-right: medium; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: var(--line-height-base); padding: var(--gap-sm) var(--gap); --darkreader-inline-border-right: currentcolor; height: 22.4px;">Higher quality output (300 dpi) but bigger size</td></tr><tr style="height: 22.4px;"><td data-darkreader-inline-border-right-short="" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right: var(--border-width) solid var(--color-border); border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: var(--line-height-base); padding: var(--gap-sm) var(--gap); --darkreader-inline-border-right-short: var(--darkreader-border--border-width) solid var(--darkreader-border--color-border); height: 22.4px;">/ebook</td><td data-darkreader-inline-border-right="" style="border-width: 0px medium 0px 0px; border-style: solid none solid solid; border-right: medium; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: var(--line-height-base); padding: var(--gap-sm) var(--gap); --darkreader-inline-border-right: currentcolor; height: 22.4px;">Medium quality output (150 dpi) with moderate output file size</td></tr><tr style="height: 22.4px;"><td data-darkreader-inline-border-right-short="" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right: var(--border-width) solid var(--color-border); border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: solid; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: var(--line-height-base); padding: var(--gap-sm) var(--gap); --darkreader-inline-border-right-short: var(--darkreader-border--border-width) solid var(--darkreader-border--color-border); height: 22.4px;">/screen</td><td data-darkreader-inline-border-right="" style="border-width: 0px medium 0px 0px; border-style: solid none solid solid; border-right: medium; border-image: initial; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: var(--line-height-base); padding: var(--gap-sm) var(--gap); --darkreader-inline-border-right: currentcolor; height: 22.4px;">Lower quality output (72 dpi) but smallest possible output file size</td></tr></tbody></table>

## With Adobe Acrobat on Windows Server  


  
Adobe Acrobat comes with a tool to compress PDFs to smaller filesizes.

The institute has a version of Adobe Acrobat installed on our Windows Servers. To access it, please go to Applications &gt; Internet &gt; Windows Small (or any size)

- Open the file in Adobe Acrobat.
- Go to Advanced and select PDF Optimizer

[![compresspdf1.png](https://wiki.math.uzh.ch/public/uploads/images/gallery/2026-06/compresspdf1.png)](https://wiki.math.uzh.ch/public/uploads/images/gallery/2026-06/compresspdf1.png)

- If the PDF is mainly for viewing purpose on the Internet, use following settings:

[![compresspdf2.png](https://wiki.math.uzh.ch/public/uploads/images/gallery/2026-06/compresspdf2.png)](https://wiki.math.uzh.ch/public/uploads/images/gallery/2026-06/compresspdf2.png)

- Save the file with a new filename.