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Compress PDF to 200 KB

200 KB is a common limit for certificates and supporting documents on scholarship and admission portals. It holds one to three scanned pages at a resolution that still reads well. Pick your file, and the tool finds the sharpest version that fits. No upload in browser modeNo sign-upNo daily limit

1) PDF file

Drop a PDF here, or click to choose

2) Target size

Unit

Preset to 200 KB. Change it if your form says otherwise. 1 KB = 1,000 bytes here, so the file also passes sites that count 1,024.

3) Where to compress

In your browser recommended On our server

Black & white (smaller, good for text scans)

⚠️ Output is an image-based PDF (text is not selectable). Other sizes: 100 KB · 300 KB · 500 KB · 1 MB · any size

What fits in 200 KB

Think of 200 KB as a budget per page. One page gets the whole 200 KB — in our test that meant 116 dpi, clear on screen. Three text pages share about 65 KB each, which is roughly what a 72–80 dpi page costs. At six pages each page gets about 33 KB, and our test file dropped to 48 dpi. The table below shows the exact numbers.

Pages	Test file	Result	Resolution reached	Readability
1	ID-style scan, 1.0 MB	187 KB	116 dpi · q72	clear on screen
2	photo pages, 1.4 MB	196 KB	105 dpi · q72	clear on screen
3	colour text scan, 2.5 MB	185 KB	80 dpi · q50	normal text readable
6	grey text scan, 6.1 MB	193 KB	48 dpi · q72	hard to read
10	mixed scan, 5.0 MB	198 KB	37 dpi · q72	hard to read

Measured on 16 October 2026 with this tool in browser mode on our own test PDFs (synthetic A4 scans with paper noise, which is harder to compress than a clean office scan). Your numbers will differ; cleaner scans get higher resolution. “q” is the JPG quality the tool settled on. Readability labels are a rough guide: 100 dpi and up is clear on screen, 70–100 dpi keeps normal-size text readable, below 50 dpi only large text survives.

Where you will see a 200 KB limit

National Scholarship Portal (India). The Ministry of Minority Affairs FAQ for its pre-matric, post-matric and merit-cum-means schemes says files must be PDF or JPEG and “the size of each document should not exceed more than 200 kb” (NSP FAQ, Q.4). The FAQ is from the 2019-20 cycle, so confirm in the current portal.
Other portals may use the same figure for marksheets or certificates. The limit printed next to the upload button on your form is the one that counts.

If it won’t go below 200 KB, try this

Count the pages the form actually wants.Marksheets often come with instruction pages on the back. Drop them with Split PDF.
Join two small certificates side by side.2 pages per sheet halves the page count; a half-size certificate is still readable.
Use Black & white for marksheets.Coloured security backgrounds are expensive to store and add nothing once printed in grey.
Aim for 190.If a portal rejects a 199 KB file, it may be counting differently. Type 190 and try again.

Questions

How many pages fit in 200 KB?

Up to three scanned pages stay comfortably readable (72–80 dpi or better in our tests). Six pages fit, but text gets small and soft.

My scholarship portal says 200 KB but my file is 210 KB after compressing. Why?

This tool always lands under the number you type. If you used another tool, the difference may be 1,000 vs 1,024 bytes per KB. Here, 200 KB means 200,000 bytes.

Is it safe to compress certificates here?

In browser mode the file is processed on your device and never uploaded. Server mode exists as an alternative, and does not keep files.

Should I upload a JPG instead?

If the form accepts JPG and the document is a single page, a JPG is often smaller. For more than one page, a PDF keeps them together.

Compress PDF to 200 KB

What fits in 200 KB

Where you will see a 200 KB limit

If it won’t go below 200 KB, try this

Questions

Compress to another size

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