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How to Compress a PDF in Chrome, Edge, or Firefox

Chrome, Edge, and Firefox all have a built-in PDF viewer, but none of them can compress a PDF. The good news: the fix is identical in all three. ShrinkPDF runs as a website — no extension, no add-on, no installation — and works the same way whichever of the three you have open. This guide covers the shared 3-step process, plus a few tips specific to each browser.

Compress a PDF on Desktop (All Three Browsers)

This same process works whether you're on Chrome, Edge, or Firefox, on Windows, Mac, or Linux:

1

Open a New Tab

Press Ctrl+T (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+T (Mac) to open a new tab. Type shrinkpdf.fyi in the address bar and press Enter.

2

Upload Your PDF

Click Choose PDF File, or drag and drop the PDF directly onto the upload area from File Explorer (Windows), Finder (Mac), or any Linux file manager.

3

Compress and Download

Select Balanced for most documents, or Maximum when you have a strict size limit (government portals, university submissions). Click Download — the file saves to your Downloads folder.

Compress a PDF on Android

1

Open Your Browser App and Go to ShrinkPDF

Open Chrome, Edge, or Firefox on your Android phone. Tap the address bar and type shrinkpdf.fyi — no app installation needed.

2

Tap Choose PDF File

Tap the upload button. The Android file picker opens. Navigate to Downloads, or browse to wherever the PDF is stored.

3

Compress and Download

Choose a compression level and tap Download. The file saves to Internal Storage → Downloads. A notification appears — tap it to open the file or share it to another app.

Compressing a PDF Already Open in Your Browser

If you've opened a PDF directly in your browser's built-in viewer and want to compress it, the steps are the same across Chrome, Edge, and Firefox:

  1. Click the download icon in the PDF viewer's toolbar to save the file to your device first (in Edge, you can also press Ctrl+S)
  2. Open a new tab and go to shrinkpdf.fyi
  3. Upload the saved PDF, choose a compression level, and download the result

None of the three browsers' built-in viewers can compress directly — you always need to save the file locally first, then compress it separately.

Browser-Specific Notes

Chrome

Drag and drop works directly from File Explorer or Finder onto the upload area — faster than browsing. On Chrome for iPhone, note it runs on Safari's WebKit engine under the hood (required by Apple), but ShrinkPDF works the same way regardless.

Edge

After downloading, Edge automatically offers to open the compressed PDF in its built-in viewer — useful for a quick check that text is sharp and layout is intact before sharing. Edge's viewer can view, annotate, fill forms, and print, but compression, merging, and splitting all require a dedicated tool like ShrinkPDF.

Firefox

You can drag a file straight from Firefox's Downloads panel (Ctrl+J / Cmd+J) onto the upload area without opening File Explorer or Finder separately. Firefox Focus is the exception to all of this — it blocks most scripts by default, which can interfere with ShrinkPDF's compression, so use standard Firefox instead.

Firefox + ShrinkPDF: A Privacy-First Combination

Firefox is built around privacy — it blocks third-party trackers by default and is the only major browser not owned by an advertising company. ShrinkPDF shares a similar philosophy: your PDF is processed entirely in your browser, with zero server upload at any point.

You can verify this yourself in Firefox:

  1. Press F12 to open Firefox DevTools
  2. Click the Network tab
  3. Upload and compress a PDF
  4. Observe that no outgoing requests contain your file data — only small analytics calls are visible
Why this matters for sensitive documents

Tools like Smallpdf and iLovePDF upload your file to their servers to perform compression. ShrinkPDF processes everything locally using JavaScript. For sensitive documents — tax files, medical records, identity documents, signed contracts — the distinction is meaningful. Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection plus ShrinkPDF's local processing means your document data goes nowhere it shouldn't.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can Chrome, Edge, or Firefox compress PDFs on their own? ▼
No. All three browsers have built-in PDF viewers that can view, scroll, print, and in some cases annotate PDFs, but none of them can compress a PDF. To compress in any of them, open ShrinkPDF as a website in a new tab — no extension or add-on required.
Do I need a browser extension to compress PDFs? ▼
No. ShrinkPDF is a website, not an extension or add-on, for any of the three browsers. Open shrinkpdf.fyi in a tab and the tool works immediately. This also means it works on managed devices, school computers, or work laptops where installing extensions may be restricted.
Where do these browsers save downloaded files? ▼
All three default to your system Downloads folder: C:\Users\[username]\Downloads on Windows, ~/Downloads on Mac and Linux, and Internal Storage/Downloads on Android. You can change the default location in each browser's download settings.
Does ShrinkPDF work on mobile versions of these browsers? ▼
Yes, on Chrome, Edge, and Firefox for Android and iOS. The process is identical to desktop: open shrinkpdf.fyi, upload, compress, download. Note that on iPhone, both Chrome and Edge use Safari's WebKit engine under the hood, as required by Apple.
Is ShrinkPDF compatible with Firefox's strict privacy settings? ▼
Yes. ShrinkPDF works correctly with Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection enabled, including Strict mode, since compression runs entirely on local JavaScript with no dependency on third-party scripts or cookies. Firefox Focus is the exception — it blocks most scripts by default, which can interfere with the tool.

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Compress PDF on Chromebook → Compress PDF on Android Without Any App → How to Compress a PDF on Windows 10 & 11 → How to Compress a PDF on Mac → How to Compress a PDF — Complete Guide →