pdfmm (for "pdf minus minus", or "pdf--") is a graphical assistant to reduce the size of PDF files.
Here are some results obtained with randomly selected PDF files:
| Input size | Output size | % optimization |
|---|---|---|
| 29 KiB | 23 KiB | 20 % |
| 363 KiB | 72 KiB | 80 % |
| 733 KiB | 658 KiB | 10 % |
| 991 KiB | 349 KiB | 65 % |
| 1.7 MiB | 0.8 MiB | 52 % |
| 1.9 MiB | 1.1 MiB | 40 % |
| 2.3 MiB | 1.6 MiB | 31 % |
| 3.4 MiB | 1.3 MiB | 60 % |
| 7.1 MiB | 5.4 MiB | 23 % |
| 14.8 MiB | 9.4 MiB | 36 % |
| 54.3 MiB | 14.6 MiB | 73 % |
Of course, this table is presented as an example only. The result will certainly not be the same with other files of similar size. It depends on the content.
pdfmm is a shell script requiring bash (>= 4.0), sed, zenity, and ghostscript.
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Extract the archive.
The script is ready to be used by the current user.
To make the script available to all users, add the pdfmm file to the /usr/bin/ folder (root privileges required).
In this case, the folder created by the extraction can be deleted after the copy.
Just delete the folder created by the extraction.
Delete the pdfmm file previously copied to /usr/bin/ (root privileges required).
Notes:
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Original files are never modified. The optimized file is created in the same folder as the original.
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After optimized files have been created, a window appears listing them. Clicking OK will keep these files; clicking Cancel will remove them.
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A configuration file is created in the home folder of the user running
pdfmm:~/.config/pdfmm.confThis file contains the parent folder of the last file selected. This folder will be proposed the next time
pdfmmis used.
To use the script in a terminal, run the pdfmm file with the appropriate path:
path/to/pdfmm
If your working folder is the same as the folder containing pdfmm, the command is:
./pdfmm
In any case, the PDF files to optimize can be specified as arguments, for example:
./pdfmm path/to/the/file1.pdf path/to/the/file2.pdf
The script can also be launched by clicking on the pdfmm file (single or double click depending on your configuration) and choosing to run it.
If you prefer, you can create a launcher with the absolute path as the command, for example:
/home/USER/path/to/pdfmm
In a terminal, just enter pdfmm. The PDF files to optimize can be specified in the command line.
A launcher can also be created with the pdfmm command.
pdfmm is translatable. Anyone interested can translate all the strings in the Localisation section of the pdfmm file and send me the result. Currently, pdfmm is available in English, French, and German.
Git is used for revision control. The repository can be browsed online or cloned.
Author: Jean-Philippe Fleury (https://github.com/jpfleury)
Copyright © 2011-2015, 2019, 2025 Jean-Philippe Fleury
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.