Most PDF compressors are a black box with a slider. CompressForge opens the file, inventories what is actually making it big, and shows you a per-image plan of before and after sizes before anything is written. Smart mode selectively downsamples and re-encodes only the oversized image objects, leaving text and vector artwork untouched, so documents stay sharp and searchable. Lossless mode drops stale metadata, thumbnails and duplicate resources and re-deflates the streams, producing a file that renders bit-identically to the original. Rasterize mode is there for the stubborn cases, and target-size mode simply hits a number you name — useful when a portal will only accept files under 10 MB. It is built entirely on permissively licensed libraries, with no AGPL dependency anywhere.
What it does
Inventories the document first and shows exactly which objects are making it large
Smart mode re-encodes only oversized images, leaving text and vector art untouched and searchable
Lossless mode strips stale metadata, thumbnails and duplicate resources with bit-identical rendering
Rasterize mode for stubborn files, and target-file-size mode when you must hit a specific number
Per-image before-and-after preview so you approve the plan before committing
Presets for Screen (72 dpi), Ebook (150 dpi), Printer (300 dpi) and Prepress, plus fully custom settings
Optional grayscale conversion for documents that do not need colour
Batch compression across a whole folder with a per-file results report
Built only on permissively licensed libraries — no AGPL components
Windows installer (.exe) — installs in a couple of clicks, no extra runtimes needed
Platform:
Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
Version:
1.0.0
Download size:
81 MB
Requires:
Runs fully offline. No account, no subscription, no internet connection needed. Not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn on first run - choose More info, then Run anyway.
Licence:
Free forever for single files with Smart and Lossless modes and the Screen, Ebook and Printer presets, up to 5 compressions a day. A licence key unlocks batch and whole-folder processing, rasterize mode, target-file-size compression, custom presets, grayscale conversion, Prepress and report export.
