PDF Compact

PDF Compact is a no-nonsense Windows utility for technicians who need to prepare PDF documents on-site, on a locked-down show network, or on a machine with no internet access. Everything runs locally: there is no upload step, no account, and no dependency on an external service.

The Compress tool reduces file size using Ghostscript's PDF writer across five quality presets, from screen-optimised for the smallest possible file to prepress for the highest fidelity. It is ideal for trimming oversized slide decks, cue sheets and technical drawings so they load quickly on media servers, presentation machines and shared drives.

The Flatten tool rasterises vector and text pages to a DPI you choose, then rebuilds the PDF. This removes transparency, annotations and layer complexity that can trip up printers, RIPs or older display pipelines — giving you a predictable, single-layer document for printing or long-term archiving.

The Images to PDF tool combines JPG, PNG and other formats (converted via Ghostscript) into a single PDF. You can target standard paper sizes such as A4, A3 and Letter, common screen resolutions like 1080p and 4K, or keep each image's original dimensions. An optional background fill colour keeps mismatched or transparent images looking clean.

Because PDF Compact is a small desktop application, it deploys easily onto FOH laptops, presentation PCs and prep workstations. It is designed to sit alongside your existing playback and presentation tools rather than replace them, handling the file-prep chores that otherwise eat into setup time.

Test it against your own source files before production use. Ghostscript-based processing is deterministic, so once you have a preset that works for a given document type you can rely on repeatable results across your fleet.