Compress a PDF for IRCC — under the 4 MB or 5 MB upload limit

How to use Compress PDF for IRCC

1. Choose your PDF. If one upload field needs several documents, merge them first with the PDF Merger, because the field keeps only one file.
2. The Target size box shows 4000 KB, which the tool counts as 4,000,000 bytes. Change it to 5000 for the IRCC Portal, or to 2000 if your upload field states 2 MB.
3. Keep If needed, convert pages to images to reach the size ticked for scans and phone photos.
4. Tick Greyscale (smaller for text documents) for black-and-white paperwork; leave it off for coloured seals, stamps and passport photo pages.
5. Press the Compress to … button and wait while each attempt runs.
6. Read the New size and Method lines, open the file to check it is readable, then upload it to the correct field.

What IRCC says about file size and format

IRCC sets a limit per file, and the number depends on which online account you are using. These figures are from the IRCC Help Centre answers dated 28 September 2026, read on 27 October 2026.

Three other points from the same Help Centre pages shape how you prepare a file:

• One file per field. Each upload field accepts a single file, and if you add more than one, only the last is kept. IRCC tells applicants to combine documents into one file.
• The limit can be lower. IRCC’s page on reducing file size says the limit “can be as low as 2 MB” and asks you to check the one for your application first.
• Lower resolution is IRCC’s own advice. For images placed in a PDF it suggests 150 DPI or less, and for scans 96 or 150 DPI.

IRCC does not say whether its MB means 1,000,000 or 1,048,576 bytes. The tool’s 4,000,000-byte target is under both readings of 4 MB.

What it does and when to use it

Most IRCC applications ask for evidence that arrives as a pile of separate files: monthly bank statements, pay slips, a letter of employment, travel history pages, a marriage certificate with its translation. Because each field holds one file, you end up merging several documents, and a merged bundle of phone scans easily runs past 4 MB.

That is the moment for this tool. It takes the merged PDF, keeps it unchanged if it is already small enough, and otherwise brings it down to the limit while keeping as much detail as the budget allows.

How it works on your device

Everything happens in the browser tab; the PDF is not uploaded.

• If the file is already 4,000,000 bytes or less, it comes back untouched.
• Next, a lossless rebuild repacks the file’s internal structure. Text and images stay exactly as they were. Bank statements downloaded from online banking are usually text PDFs, and for them this step may be all that is needed.
• If the file is still too big, each page is redrawn as a JPEG image. The tool starts at 150 DPI, the upper end of IRCC’s suggestion, and searches JPEG quality from 35% to 85%.
• If even 35% quality is too large, it drops to a lower resolution from a fixed list (120, 100, 85, 72 DPI and below), chosen from the size it just measured.

Because 150 DPI is the highest resolution the tool uses, a re-rendered file can come out well below 4 MB. That is the most detail it keeps, not a fault.

How much room each page gets

A 4 MB limit is generous for a few pages and tight for a long bundle. Dividing 4,000,000 bytes by the page count gives each page’s budget; the last two columns turn that into bits per pixel for an A4 page, the budget the JPEG encoder has to work with.

This is arithmetic, not a test. A page of small print or a photocopy with a grey background needs more bytes than a short typed letter.

Worked examples

Proof of funds: six bank statements. Downloaded from online banking, each statement is a text PDF. Merge them in date order, then compress. If the method line says “Lossless rebuild”, the text is still selectable and nothing on the page changed.

Twenty scanned pages of travel history. At 4 MB each page gets 200,000 bytes, which leaves room for 150 DPI. Leave Greyscale off if the entry and exit stamps are in colour, since colour helps tell overlapping stamps apart.

A 70-page bundle that will not fit at 150 DPI. Suppose the first attempt at 150 DPI and 35% quality comes to 6.5 MB. The tool computes 150 × √(4.0 ÷ 6.5) × 0.95 = 111.79 and moves to the next step at or below that, 100 DPI, then searches quality again. If the officer would struggle to read the result, split the bundle by document type and use separate fields where the checklist allows it.

When even the smallest result is too big

The tool tells you when it cannot reach the target and shows the smallest size it managed. Some honest options:

• Upload the parts to their own fields. Your document checklist may give identity, finances and employment their own fields. Use the PDF Splitter to cut a bundle at those boundaries.
• Remove pages that add nothing, such as blank backs of single-sided documents, with the PDF Page Deleter.
• Rescan plainer. A greyscale scan at 150 DPI starts far smaller than a colour phone photo of the same page.
• Ask whether the field has a higher limit. If you use the IRCC Portal, the limit is 5 MB, so set Target size to 5000.

What the tool cannot do

• It cannot keep text selectable once pages are turned into images. The tool warns you when this happens; keep your original files.
• It cannot fix a blurry, cropped or shadowed photo. A clean rescan helps more than any setting.
• It cannot tell you which documents your application needs. That comes from your own document checklist.
• It does not translate. A document in a language other than English or French follows IRCC’s translation rules for your application.

For the general method behind these numbers, see the guide to compressing a PDF for an online form. If your application also asks for a digital photo, the Canada visa photo maker makes the 35 × 45 mm print and the 420 × 540 px file IRCC describes.