Pages and files

How to Compress an ID document PDF

Updated 2026-09-17 · 2 min read

The usual reason to compress an ID document PDF is needing to share proof of identity with parts of it hidden.

Almost all PDF bulk is images. Text weighs nothing, so compression is really a decision about how much image detail you can spare.

PDFfont edits PDF text in the document's own embedded font — no white cover boxes.

Steps to compress an ID document PDF

Open the file and check which pages are photographs or scans — those are the heavy ones.

Delete any pages you do not need to send at all.

Export with image downsampling around 150 dpi for screen reading, or 300 dpi if it will be printed.

Check the result opens cleanly and the smallest print is still legible.

With this kind of document, redaction is the only appropriate tool here, because it removes the data rather than covering it.

One caution worth stating plainly: never alter an identity document — only redact what the recipient does not need.

Real text is never rasterised, so it stays perfectly sharp no matter how far the images are compressed.

No, only images are affected.

Under 10 MB clears most email limits; under 5 MB is safer.

Yes. The editor runs in mobile Safari and Chrome, with touch-sized controls and a share sheet for saving the finished file.

$1 for 7 days of unlimited editing and downloads, then $5 a month or $29.99 a year. Cancel anytime.