Minimal PDF Compress is a user-friendly, graphical desktop application designed to simplify PDF compression and conversion tasks using Ghostscript on Windows. It allows users to compress PDF files or convert them to PDF/A format with customizable options, all through an intuitive GUI (Graphical User Interface). Built with Python and Tkinter, this tool eliminates the need for command-line interactions, making PDF processing accessible to everyone.
For many users, the command prompt can be intimidating due to its text-based nature, complex syntax, and lack of immediate feedback. Ghostscript, while powerful, typically requires command-line expertise to perform tasks like PDF compression or conversion to PDF/A.
Note: Ghostscript"s pdfwrite device doesn"t technically "compress" PDFs in the traditional sense. Instead, it recreates a new PDF that may be smaller due to optimizations like removing unnecessary metadata, simplifying fonts, or recompressing images.
Minimal PDF Compress 1.9 changelog:
Bugs
- Removed Zopfli.exe (false positives on VirusTotal), and no difference in compression was noticed by using ECT instead.
Backend
- Utilized Jbig2 in GhostScript for black/white scanned images.
- Updated DPI for more granular control rather than using GhostScript presets.
- Further increased normal compression of PDF documents.
Features
- Added an option to convert all to CMYK for printing or for offchance that RGB conversion messes up pictures too much.
- Added an option for lossless compression of black/white/grayscale images in lossy mode (for the off-chance it would corrupt qr codes).
- Option to prevent upsampling (on by default). For example, if you set the DPI to 72, and there is an image at 60 DPI, it won"t compress that image.
- Quantize color advanced setting added.
- Added utility for both user and owner password creation/removal. It can decrypt owner passwords without knowing the password, but must know the password to decrypt user passwords.
- Also, updated logo.
Minimal PDF Compress 1.9.1 fixes:
- For large files with abnormal fonts or issues, if GhostScript fails, it will revert to PikePDF and Pillow to pull out each image and compress.
- Removed optipng, relying on oxipng which from my tests has better compression. Before it would use both, and choose whichever one had more compression.
Minimal PDF Compress 1.9.2 fixes:
- This small fix preserves transparency masks, so that pdfs that have transparency/overlays won"t have corrupted images.
Download: Minimal PDF Compress 1.9.2 | 32.9 MB (Open Source)
View: Minimal PDF Compress Home Page | Screenshot
