Working with Compression

14 Sep 202319 minutes to read

Essential PDF allows you to compress the PDF document and thereby reduce the file size in the following three ways.

  1. Compress an existing PDF document
  2. Content compression for a new document
  3. Image compression for a new document

NOTE

PDF supports compressing PDF document only in Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC platforms.

To quickly get started with compressing an existing PDF document in .NET, check this video:

Compressing existing PDF document

You can compress the existing PDF document by using PdfLoadedDocument and PdfCompressionOptions. The following compression techniques are used to compress the existing PDF document.

  1. Compress the image with image quality
  2. Optimizing embedded font
  3. Optimizing page content
  4. Remove metadata information

NOTE

To compress the existing PDF document in .NET Core, you need to include Syncfusion.Pdf.Imaging.Portable assembly reference in .NET Core project.

Compressing images with image quality

You can compress all the images of an existing PDF document by enabling the CompressImages property and assigning ImageQuality available in PdfCompressionOptions class. The ImageQuality property is used to reduce the quality of the image based on percentage value, where 100 is unchanged quality and 10 is low quality.

The following example code snippet illustrates how to compress the images in existing PDF document.

//Load an existing PDF document.
FileStream docStream = new FileStream("Input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
//Load the existing PDF document
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream);

//Create a new compression option.
PdfCompressionOptions options = new PdfCompressionOptions();
//Enable the compress image.
options.CompressImages = true;
//Set the image quality.
options.ImageQuality = 50;

//Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.Compress(options);

//Creating the stream object.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
//Save the document into stream.
loadedDocument.Save(stream);
//Close the documents.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
//If the position is not set to '0' then the PDF will be empty.
stream.Position = 0;
//Defining the content type for PDF file.
string contentType = "application/pdf";
//Define the file name. 
string fileName = "Output.pdf";
//Creates a FileContentResult object by using the file contents, content type, and file name. 
return File(stream, contentType, fileName);
//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf");

//Create a new compression option.
PdfCompressionOptions options = new PdfCompressionOptions();
//Enable the compress image.
options.CompressImages = true;
//Set the image quality.
options.ImageQuality = 50;

//Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.CompressionOptions = options;

//Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
'Load the existing PDF document.
Dim loadedDocument As PdfLoadedDocument = New PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf")

'Create a new compression option.
Dim options As PdfCompressionOptions = New PdfCompressionOptions()
'Enable the compress image.
options.CompressImages = True
'Set the image quality.
options.ImageQuality = 50

'Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.CompressionOptions = options

'Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(True)

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.

Optimizing embedded font

You can optimize the embedded fonts in an existing PDF document by enabling the OptimizeFont property available in the PdfCompressionOptions class. This technique reduces the font file size by removing all the unused glyph data.

The following example code snippet illustrates how to optimize embedded font in existing PDF document.

//Load an existing PDF document.
FileStream docStream = new FileStream("Input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream);

//Create a new compression option.
PdfCompressionOptions options = new PdfCompressionOptions();
//Enable the optimize font option.
options.OptimizeFont = true;

//Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.Compress(options);

//Creating the stream object.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
//Save the document into stream.
loadedDocument.Save(stream);
//Close the documents.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
//If the position is not set to '0' then the PDF will be empty.
stream.Position = 0;
//Defining the content type for PDF file.
string contentType = "application/pdf";
//Define the file name. 
string fileName = "Output.pdf";
//Creates a FileContentResult object by using the file contents, content type, and file name. 
return File(stream, contentType, fileName);
//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf");

//Create a new compression option.
PdfCompressionOptions options = new PdfCompressionOptions();
//Enable the optimize font option.
options.OptimizeFont = true;

//Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.CompressionOptions = options;

//Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
'Load the existing PDF document.
Dim loadedDocument As PdfLoadedDocument = New PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf")

'Create a new compression option.
Dim options As PdfCompressionOptions = New PdfCompressionOptions()
'Enable the optimize font option.
options.OptimizeFont = True

'Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.CompressionOptions = options

'Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(True)

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.

NOTE

The font compression support only in TrueType and Type2 embedded fonts.

Optimizing page contents

You can compress the page contents in an existing PDF document by enabling the OptimizePageContents property available in the PdfCompressionOptions class. This technique removes the unwanted data in the content streams such as commented lines, white spaces, etc.,

The following example code snippet illustrates how to optimize page contents in existing PDF document.

//Load an existing PDF document.
FileStream docStream = new FileStream("Input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream);

//Create a new compression option.
PdfCompressionOptions options = new PdfCompressionOptions();
//Enable the optimize page contents.
options.OptimizePageContents = true;

//Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.Compress(options);

//Creating the stream object.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
//Save the document into stream.
loadedDocument.Save(stream);
//Close the documents.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
//If the position is not set to '0' then the PDF will be empty.
stream.Position = 0;
//Defining the content type for PDF file.
string contentType = "application/pdf";
//Define the file name.
string fileName = "Output.pdf";
//Creates a FileContentResult object by using the file contents, content type, and file name.
return File(stream, contentType, fileName);
//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf");

//Create a new compression option.
PdfCompressionOptions options = new PdfCompressionOptions();
//Enable the optimize page contents.
options.OptimizePageContents = true;

//Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.CompressionOptions = options;

//Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
'Load the existing PDF document.
Dim loadedDocument As PdfLoadedDocument = New PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf")

'Create a new compression option.
Dim options As PdfCompressionOptions = New PdfCompressionOptions()
'Enable the optimize page contents.
options.OptimizePageContents = True

'Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.CompressionOptions = options

'Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(True)

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.

Remove metadata information

You can reduce the PDF file size by removing the PDF document metadata information. This can be achieved by enabling the RemoveMetadata property available in the PdfCompressionOptions class.

The following example code snippet illustrates how to optimize page contents in existing PDF document.

//Load an existing PDF document.
FileStream docStream = new FileStream("Input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument(docStream);

//Create a new compression option.
PdfCompressionOptions options = new PdfCompressionOptions();
//Set to remove the metadata information.
options.RemoveMetadata = true;

//Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.Compress(options);

//Creating the stream object
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
//Save the document into stream.
loadedDocument.Save(stream);
//Close the documents.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
//If the position is not set to '0' then the PDF will be empty.
stream.Position = 0;
//Defining the content type for PDF file.
string contentType = "application/pdf";
//Define the file name. 
string fileName = "Output.pdf";
//Creates a FileContentResult object by using the file contents, content type, and file name. 
return File(stream, contentType, fileName);
//Load the existing PDF document.
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf");

//Create a new compression option.
PdfCompressionOptions options = new PdfCompressionOptions();
//Set to remove the metadata information.
options.RemoveMetadata = true;

//Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.CompressionOptions = options;

//Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(true);
'Load the existing PDF document.
Dim loadedDocument As PdfLoadedDocument = New PdfLoadedDocument("input.pdf")

'Create a new compression option.
Dim options As PdfCompressionOptions = New PdfCompressionOptions()
'Set to remove the metadata information.
options.RemoveMetadata = True

'Assign the compression option to the document.
loadedDocument.CompressionOptions = options

'Save the PDF document.
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document.
loadedDocument.Close(True)

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.

Compressing the PDF content

Essential PDF allows you to control the compression level of the document by using the PdfCompressionLevel Enum. The compression level can be set to best, normal, none etc…

Content compression involves,
1) Removing all extra space characters.
2) Inserting a single repeat character to indicate a string of repeated characters.
3) Substituting smaller bit strings for frequently occurring characters.

The following code snippet illustrates how to compress the content of the PDF document.

//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
//Set the compression level to best.
document.Compression = PdfCompressionLevel.Best;
//Add a page to the document.
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();

//Create PDF graphics for the page.
PdfGraphics graphics = page.Graphics;
//Set the font.
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 20);
string text = "Hello World!!!";
PdfTextElement textElement = new PdfTextElement(text, font);
PdfLayoutResult result = textElement.Draw(page, new RectangleF(0, 0, font.MeasureString(text).Width, page.GetClientSize().Height));
for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++)
{
    result = textElement.Draw(result.Page, new RectangleF(0, result.Bounds.Bottom + 10, font.MeasureString(text).Width, page.GetClientSize().Height));
}

//Creating the stream object.
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
//Save the document into stream.
document.Save(stream);
//Close the documents.
document.Close(true);
//If the position is not set to '0' then the PDF will be empty.
stream.Position = 0;
//Defining the content type for PDF file.
string contentType = "application/pdf";
//Define the file name. 
string fileName = "Output.pdf";
//Creates a FileContentResult object by using the file contents, content type, and file name. 
return File(stream, contentType, fileName);
//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
//Set the compression level to best.
document.Compression = PdfCompressionLevel.Best;
//Add a page to the document.
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();

//Create PDF graphics for the page.
PdfGraphics graphics = page.Graphics;
//Set the font.
PdfFont font = new PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 20);
string text = "Hello World!!!";
PdfTextElement textElement = new PdfTextElement(text, font);

PdfLayoutResult result = textElement.Draw(page, new RectangleF(0, 0, font.MeasureString(text).Width, page.GetClientSize().Height));
for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++)
{
result = textElement.Draw(result.Page, new RectangleF(0, result.Bounds.Bottom +10, font.MeasureString(text).Width, page.GetClientSize().Height));
}

//Save the document.
document.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
document.Close(true);
'Create a new PDF document.
Dim document As New PdfDocument()
'Set the compression level to best
document.Compression = PdfCompressionLevel.Best
'Add a page to the document.
Dim page As PdfPage = document.Pages.Add()

'Create PDF graphics for the page.
Dim graphics As PdfGraphics = page.Graphics
'Set the font.
Dim font As PdfFont = New PdfStandardFont(PdfFontFamily.Helvetica, 20)
Dim text As String = "Hello World!!!"
Dim textElement As New PdfTextElement(text, font)
Dim result As PdfLayoutResult = textElement.Draw(page, New RectangleF(0, 0, font.MeasureString(text).Width, page.GetClientSize().Height))
For i As Integer = 0 To 999
result = textElement.Draw(result.Page, New RectangleF(0, result.Bounds.Bottom + 10, font.MeasureString(text).Width, page.GetClientSize().Height))
Next

'Save the document.
document.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document.
document.Close(True)

You can compress the existing PDF document by specifying the PdfCompressionLevel and setting the IncrementalUpdate property in FileStructure class.

//Load the PDF document
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument("Input.pdf");

//Disable the incremental update
loadedDocument.FileStructure.IncrementalUpdate = false;

//Set the compression level
loadedDocument.Compression = PdfCompressionLevel.Best;

//Save and close the document
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
loadedDocument.Close(true);
'Load the PDF document
Dim loadedDocument As New PdfLoadedDocument("Input.pdf")

'Disable the incremental update
loadedDocument.FileStructure.IncrementalUpdate = False

'Set the compression level
loadedDocument.Compression = PdfCompressionLevel.Best

'Save and close the document
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
loadedDocument.Close(True)

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.

Compressing images

Essential PDF allows you to compress/change the quality of the image in the PDF document by assigning Quality property available in the PdfBitmap class.

//Create a new PDF document.
PdfDocument document = new PdfDocument();
//Add a page to the document.
PdfPage page = document.Pages.Add();
//Create PDF graphics for the page.
PdfGraphics graphics = page.Graphics;

//Load the image from the disk.
PdfBitmap image = new PdfBitmap("Input.jpg");
//Reduce the quality of the image.
image.Quality = 50;
//Draw the image.
image.Draw(page, new PointF(0, 0));

//Save the document.
document.Save("Output.pdf");
//Close the document.
document.Close(true);
'Create a new PDF document.
Dim document As New PdfDocument()
'Add a page to the document.
Dim page As PdfPage = document.Pages.Add()
'Create PDF graphics for the page.
Dim graphics As PdfGraphics = page.Graphics

'Load the image from the disk.
Dim image As New PdfBitmap("Input.jpg")
'Reduce the quality of the image.
image.Quality = 50
//Draw the image.
image.Draw(page, New PointF(0, 0))

'Save the document.
document.Save("Output.pdf")
'Close the document.
document.Close(True)

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.

You can compress the images in an existing PDF document by extract the images using ExtractImages method and assigning the image quality using Quality property available in the PdfBitmap class.

//Load the PDF document with images
PdfLoadedDocument loadedDocument = new PdfLoadedDocument("Input.pdf");
//Disable the incremental update
loadedDocument.FileStructure.IncrementalUpdate = false;

//iterate all the pages to replace images
foreach (PdfPageBase page in loadedDocument.Pages)
{
//Extract the images from the document
Image[] extractedImages = page.ExtractImages();
//Iterate all the image
for (int j = 0; j < extractedImages.Count(); j++)
{
//Load the image. 
PdfBitmap image = new PdfBitmap(extractedImages[j]);
//reduce the quality of the image
image.Quality = 50;
//replace the compressed image with old image in the PDF document
page.ReplaceImage(j, image);
}
}

//Save and close the document
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf");
loadedDocument.Close(true);
'Load the PDF document which consist of images
Dim loadedDocument As New PdfLoadedDocument("Input.pdf")

'Disable the incremental update
loadedDocument.FileStructure.IncrementalUpdate = False

'iterate all the pages to replace images
For Each page As PdfPageBase In loadedDocument.Pages
'Extract the images from the document
Dim extractedImages As Image() = page.ExtractImages()
'Iterate all the image
For j As Integer = 0 To extractedImages.Count() - 1
Dim image As New PdfBitmap(extractedImages(j))
'reduce the quality of the image
image.Quality = 50
'replace the compressed image with old image in the PDF document
page.ReplaceImage(j, image)
Next
Next

'Save and close the document
loadedDocument.Save("Output.pdf")
loadedDocument.Close(True)

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.