Save as PDF on Mac Without a Huge File
The Print dialog’s Save as PDF does not shrink anything. It copies your images into the PDF at their original size, so a document full of photos gives a huge PDF. To get a smaller one, reduce the images first or recompress the PDF afterward.
Why is my Print to PDF file so large on a Mac?
Print to PDF writes what the app sends it. Text and shapes stay as small vector data. Photos go in as they are. We tested this with the macOS print filter. A 3000 by 3000 pixel JPEG of 1,350,485 bytes became a PDF of 1,352,174 bytes: the same JPEG, wrapped in a page. pdfimages showed it placed at 373 ppi, well above what a screen or most printers need.
So the PDF is as big as the images you put in. A ten-photo Pages or Preview document makes a ten-photo PDF. The fix is to deal with the images, not the print dialog. For the cause list, see why a PDF is so large.
Is there a smaller-file option in the Print dialog?
Not a size setting. Press Command-P, open the PDF menu at the bottom left and choose Save as PDF. You get a title, author and a security option, and that is all for size. Some older Macs showed a Quartz filter list there. Recent macOS versions do not, so look in Preview instead.
The Quartz filters still ship with macOS, in /System/Library/Filters. The one called Reduce File Size is a short recipe. We read it with plutil:
plutil -p "/System/Library/Filters/Reduce File Size.qfilter"
# Compression Quality 0.7
# ImageResolution 144
# ImageSizeMax 2400That means JPEG quality 0.7, images resampled to 144 ppi, and a cap of 2400 px.
How do I save a PDF smaller from Preview?
- Save your printed PDF, then open it in Preview.
- Choose File > Export (not Export as PDF).
- Open the Quartz Filter menu and pick Reduce File Size.
- Save under a new name. Keep the original.
It is free and quick. It is a fixed recipe, so a page with fine print or a detailed chart can look softer, and the result can occasionally be larger than the source if the images were already small. Check a photo and a line of small text before sending. More detail: reduce PDF size in Preview.
Can I make the file smaller before I print?
Yes, and it is the best result. A smaller image going into the print gives a smaller PDF with no recompression pass. Resize the photos first. In Terminal, sips does it without installing anything:
sips -Z 1600 photo.jpg --out photo_small.jpg1600 px on the long edge is plenty for a photo on a printed page up to about 8 by 10 inches at 200 ppi. After that, place the smaller images in the document. See the sips command guide for more options.
Which method gives the smallest PDF?
One test, one file: the 1.35 MB print-made PDF above. This is a single photo, so the exact numbers will not match your document.
| Method | Result size | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Print > Save as PDF | 1,352,174 bytes | Image kept at original size |
| Ghostscript /ebook setting | 76,836 bytes | Free, Terminal only |
| Resize photo before printing | Depends on the new size | No recompression pass |
Ghostscript was run with -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook. It works well, but the command line is not for everyone. Our Terminal PDF compression guide shows the commands.
When is Smol the wrong tool for this?
For one document, Preview’s Reduce File Size filter or resized photos are enough. Do not buy anything for a single PDF. Smol also does not edit the PDF, OCR it or fix a file with no images.
Smol is worth $29 (once, one Mac) if you print to PDF often and want one right-click from Finder, folders of PDFs handled in one go, and five presets instead of one recipe, with nothing uploaded. See Smol or the best PDF compressors for Mac.
How we checked this
Ran the macOS cupsfilter print path on a 3000 px JPEG, inspected the PDF with pdfimages, ran Ghostscript /ebook, read the Reduce File Size filter with plutil. Facts last checked . We make Smol, so treat our claims about it with the same care as any vendor’s, and see our editorial policy.
Save as PDF on Mac: common questions
Why is my PDF so big when I print to PDF?
Because the images go into the PDF at their original size. We printed a 1,350,485 byte JPEG to PDF with the macOS print filter and got 1,352,174 bytes. The print step adds the page, not compression. Shrink the images first or recompress the PDF afterward.
How do I print to PDF at a lower quality on a Mac?
The Print dialog has no quality setting. Save the PDF, open it in Preview, choose File > Export and pick the Reduce File Size Quartz filter. It resamples images to 144 ppi at JPEG quality 0.7. Keep the original, since the filter is a one-way change.
Is Save as PDF different from Export as PDF?
Often. Save as PDF in the Print dialog uses the system print path. Export as PDF in an app like Pages or Keynote uses the app’s own settings and may offer an image quality choice. Try the app’s export first when it has one, as it can be smaller.
Will a smaller PDF look worse?
Photos can look softer, and text stays sharp because it is not an image. If the PDF is only for screens or email, the change is usually hard to see. For printing, use a gentler setting and check a sample page.
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