How to shrink a PDF's file size on Linux
You don't need special software to shrink a PDF's file size on Linux. FernPDF runs entirely in Firefox or Chrome on Linux: open the tool, drop your file, download the result. Compression re-encodes the document on your device. Image-heavy and scanned PDFs shrink the most, often 60–90%.
On Linux, you drag it into the drop zone from your file manager, or click to open the browser's native file picker. Once the smaller file is ready, it downloads to your ~/Downloads folder, or wherever your browser's settings point downloads, the same as any other file it saves.
The picker's exact look depends on your desktop environment (GNOME, KDE, Xfce), but the underlying behaviour is identical: it's a standard browser file input, not a custom uploader that behaves differently across distributions.
No hunting for the right CLI flags or building tools from source. A browser is the only dependency, on any distribution.
Step by step
- 1Open the Compress PDF Online Free: Reduce PDF File Size tool in Firefox or Chrome on Linux. No install, no account.
- 2Add your PDF: drag it into the drop zone from your file manager, or click to open the browser's native file picker.
- 3Pick a level: Less, Recommended, or Strong, and preview the estimated savings.
- 4Click “Compress PDF” and download the smaller file. It lands in your ~/Downloads folder, or wherever your browser's settings point downloads, the same as any other file it saves.
Common questions
Every FernPDF tool processes files in your browser: read how the privacy model works, or verify it yourself in your network tab.