PDF files can quickly become unwieldy. At RevisePDF, we've built a compression tool that significantly reduces file sizes while maintaining quality.

Our Technical Stack

  • Python/Flask for the web application
  • PyMuPDF for PDF analysis
  • Ghostscript for compression
  • Supabase for authentication

The Compression Pipeline

  1. File Upload and Validation

    • Secure handling with size checks
    • Virus scanning

  2. PDF Analysis

    • Analysing PDF structure
    • Determining optimal compression strategy

  3. Compression Processing

    • Applying optimised parameters
    • Downsampling images appropriately

Key Challenges We Solved

  • Preserving Text Quality: Using different settings for text vs images
  • Handling Large Files: Implementing asynchronous processing
  • Balancing Size vs Quality: Creating multiple compression presets

Results

Typical compression rates range from 65-75% reduction in file size!

Try It Yourself!

We're currently in beta and looking for users to test our PDF compression tool. Visit RevisePDF.com to try it out!

What compression ratio would you consider acceptable for your documents? Let me know in the comments.