Compress a PDF to under 1 MB
A 1 MB ceiling is far tighter than the limits on email or most portals, and you usually hit it while attaching a document to an online service that takes a single attachment. Drop the file here, choose the strong level if it is a scan or a phone photo, and compare the size before and after. Compression runs inside your browser, so the attachment does not pass through any server before it reaches the service you are actually sending it to.
Drop your files here
Files are processed on your device and never uploaded
Runs in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.
You can process several files at once, up to 3.
"Sorry, the file size must be less than 1 MB": what the message means
This message, or a sibling such as "the maximum size per file is 1MB", means exactly one thing: the attachment you picked is over the limit of that particular service. The file is not damaged and the format is not wrong. The portal will not shrink the file for you and usually does not even tell you its current size, so the first step is finding that out. Drop the file into the tool above and you will see its size before compression; after a run you will see the new size and the percentage saved. At 1.2 MB the light level may be enough. At 5 MB you will need strong. At 30 MB across dozens of pages, compression alone will not do it and you will need to extract only the pages the service asked for.
Absher and similar services: one attachment, small limit
Many online services, including services on Absher and portals run by other bodies, accept a single attachment per field and cap it low; official support replies to user questions mention the one-attachment rule together with a size limit. We do not quote a specific figure for each Absher service here because the limit is only shown inside the service after signing in and differs from one service to the next, so the message shown in the field itself is the authority. The practical problem is that most attachments today come from a phone camera: a single photo of a document saved as a PDF comes out at 3 to 6 MB, several times the cap. Khallas is an independent tool with no affiliation to Absher or any government body and no access to your account there.
Which level to pick: strong for scans, light for typed letters
The tool offers three levels, not a target-size box. For photos and scans go straight to strong: it is built for that kind of file and re-encodes the page image at a quality that stays readable on clear documents. For a letter written in Word or a typed form choose light; a text file is small to begin with and is often under 1 MB already, and light keeps its text selectable. Medium and strong re-render pages as images, so text stops being selectable after them, and a small text file can even come back larger, which the result will tell you. Never compress an already compressed copy: go back to the original each time and try the next level.
How many pages fit in 1 MB
The figures below are approximate and depend on the content, but they give you a realistic expectation before you start. A text PDF from Word holds dozens of pages in under 1 MB. One page of a clean scan lands between roughly 100 and 300 KB after the strong level, so a megabyte holds about three to six scanned pages. A phone photo of a printed document behaves the same way once compressed. A high-resolution colour scan of a page full of pictures may stay above 300 KB. If your file is longer than that, the fix is fewer pages rather than harder compression: pull out the one page you need with the split tool or delete the extra pages with the organize tool, then compress what is left.
When the field wants an image, not a PDF
Some fields in these services are for images only, such as a personal photo or a picture of a document, and accept JPG or PNG under a small cap without taking a PDF at all. Compression does not help there. If what you have is a one-page PDF, convert that page to a JPG with the PDF to images tool, choose normal quality for a smaller file, and upload the image it produces. If you still have the original photo from your phone, upload it directly after reducing it in the phone's settings; there is no reason to turn it into a PDF and back into a picture.
Check the result before uploading, and the file stays on your device
The strong level costs some sharpness. That stays readable on clear documents, but small digits, stamps, and expiry dates are the first things to suffer. Open the compressed copy and zoom in on those spots before you upload it; if the ID number or a stamp is not legible, use medium and split the file instead. You can compress up to three files in one batch, each processed on its own. All of it happens inside your browser: the file is not uploaded to any server and there is no copy on our side, which is what an attachment carrying an ID number, an iqama scan, or family details deserves.
Related pages
Three steps, that's it
Drop the PDF into the tray and read its current size
Pick strong for scans and phone photos, light for text files, then compress
Confirm the after size is under 1 MB, check digits and stamps, then download
Frequently asked questions
Why do I see "Sorry, the file size must be less than 1 MB"?
Because the attachment you chose is over that service's limit. A phone photo saved as a PDF usually exceeds it, and compressing at the strong level fixes that in most cases.
Will the compressed file fit the image fields on Absher?
Some fields ask for an image, not a PDF. In that case use the PDF to images tool and save the page as a JPG instead of compressing the file.
Does the picture lose sharpness?
Sharpness drops at the strong level but stays readable on clear documents. Check the result before uploading, especially digits and stamps.
Can I compress more than one file at a time?
Yes, up to three files per batch, each processed separately inside your browser.
Do you keep a copy of my attachments?
No. The file is never uploaded to a server, so there is no copy to keep.
