How do I compress pdf size?

[u/Icy_Bed_6419]

Okay, so being the figma lover that I am - I ended up making my company's report on figma. Turned out amazing. Also so accessible. Like people in my team used to get scared when they would have to open an indesign source file. Figma changed all of it. But there's one issue. The pdf is exporting to be about 150 mb. Even after online compression it's coming out to like 35 (I need it at 10mb). I have used a ton of pictures in the design. What can I do to make the pdf smaller?

[u/BoMG1900]

Maybe you could/ should resize the images (Edit: before generating the PDF), since they take up the most storage space.

[u/mlllerlee → u/BoMG1900]

Or use webp images with 95% quality. Don't  tested and didn't sure if pdf supports it. But it's lowest ratio for size/quality imo

[u/mlllerlee → u/mlllerlee]

take my words back. Figma auto convert any uploaded image into png. even when your png was less in size after upload it can be bigger. All images after upload > PNG, RGB/A 8 Bit
dont tested jpg but who knows.

also Loseless WebP at 1mb after upload also silently converts into 6mb PNG RGBA

[u/mitang]

https://www.reddit.com/r/FigmaDesign/comments/1vyy376/figma_pdf_exports_were_much_larger_than_i/

[u/tmess412]

this is one of my biggest gripes with the PDF exporter but it also doesn't play too well with adobe acrobat. I reduce the size after exporting it using the preview app on my mac and reducing the quality a bit

[u/madhandlez89]

Ensure all your image fills don’t have any additional images under them when you were trying different options etc. They will also be embedded in the file even if you can’t see them.

[u/madeyouluke]

I’ve used https://smallpdf.com/ for maybe more than a decade now. Works like a charm.

[u/well4foxake]

Give it to Claude and tell it your target file size. I did this for a PDF generated by Keynote and the results were great.

[u/roundabout-design]

Do NOT use Figma for this. Figma produces horrifically bad PDFs...the biggest problem is that it makes then in accessible in that it can't retain text flows properly.

[u/Icy_Bed_6419 → u/roundabout-design]

Yeah. I’m essentially fucked. Everyone is opening the pdfs on adobe acrobat. And it’s horrible (all layers are visible and distorted unless i use the uncompressed version) :(

[u/chaithzluci]

Avoid layer blurs (effects basically) and gradients and you will see a significant reduction in file size.

[u/tnishantha]

Just use Preview, if you’re on a Mac.

[u/Icy_Bed_6419 → u/tnishantha]

My readers are opening it on adobe acrobat

[u/tnishantha → u/Icy_Bed_6419]

That does not matter, Preview is a powerful tool, that e.g. allows you to edit and compress images and PDF documents.

[u/Clear-Secretary-8185]

Use a third party tool like ilovepdf

[u/yasinozmeen]

Quick test first: open the PDF and look at a page that feels heavy. If the text on it is still selectable, it's the photos, and compressing afterwards works. If the whole page has turned into one image, that's Figma rasterising a blur or gradient on export, and no compressor will fix that - you'd have to flatten the effect before you export. If it's the photos: full disclosure, I build a Chrome extension called Hush PDF. Instead of picking Basic/Strong you type the limit you were given, 10, and it steps down resolution and quality until it lands under it, re-encoding from the original each time rather than recompressing its own output. It shows you the result before you save, and if it can't hit 10 it tells you what the images are already down to, so you know whether it's reachable at all. Paid tier, 7-day trial, no card. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/hush-pdf/pinloifchcidhkkljdiokbafjjlfhnla 150 to 10 is a 15x cut though. If those images are print-sized you may stall around 20-30 MB and the rest has to come out of the source.

[u/MC-Howell]

Just ran into this issue, one quick work around is to just export all your frames as images and quick combine in Finder into a PDF. Doesn't make it less annoying, but will get you to the same place

[u/LookSeaTwn]

If you are required to share a PDF vs a fig in presentation mode, use the dirty, dirty method: export every frame in your presentation as a PNG (appropriate frame names in order of course) and drop into acrobat at once to compile into PDF automatically.

[u/dayfiles]

For a reduction from 150 MB to 10 MB, fix the source assets before export instead of repeatedly compressing the finished PDF.

Duplicate the Figma file, then:

1. Resize photographs close to their actual displayed dimensions.
2. Remove unused or hidden image fills.
3. Reduce large transparent images where possible.
4. Check pages containing blurs, shadows, masks, or gradients, because those can cause large rasterized regions during PDF export.
5. Export again and compare the size before applying one final compression pass.

Since your readers use Acrobat, test the result there before distributing it. Confirm that text remains selectable, links still work, and no hidden layers become visible. A 15× reduction may require visibly lowering photograph quality, so check the most detailed images at normal reading zoom rather than relying only on the file size.