Learn how to reduce PDF file size in Linux using Ghostscript, ps2pdf, ImageMagick, and GUI tools. Compress PDFs from the command line or terminal.

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Covers multiple methods to reduce PDF file sizes on Linux. The primary approach uses Ghostscript with the -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook preset, which typically achieves 40-60% size reduction. Also covers ps2pdf as a shorter Ghostscript wrapper, ImageMagick for image-only PDFs with direct DPI and quality control, cpdf -squeeze for lossless structural cleanup without touching image data, and GUI options via PDF Arranger and LibreOffice Draw. Includes diagnosing the root cause of large PDFs using pdfinfo and pdfimages, handling scanned PDFs with grayscale conversion, and a batch compression bash script for processing multiple files at once.

Reduce PDF File Size in Linux: Tools and Methods

What Causes Large PDF File Sizes on Linux

Method 1: Compress PDF Using Ghostscript (Recommended)

Method 2: Compress PDF Using ps2pdf and pdf2ps

Method 5: Compress PDF Using GUI Tools on Linux

How to Compress Scanned PDF Files in Linux

How to Batch Compress Multiple PDF Files in Linux

Tool Comparison: Choosing the Right PDF Compression Method