Linux shell script to reduce PDF file size

H ere is a handy and useful Linux and Unix shell script that reduce PDF file size using Ghostscript. No need to upload your PDF file to the shady third-party website. Just do it from the terminal. I tested it with both CentOS and Ubuntu/Debian Linux.

Unix and Linux shell script to reduce PDF file size

#!/bin/sh
 
# http://www.alfredklomp.com/programming/shrinkpdf
# Licensed under the 3-clause BSD license:
#
# Copyright (c) 2014-2019, Alfred Klomp
# All rights reserved.
#
# Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
# modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
# 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
#    this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
# 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
#    this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
#    and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
# 3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors
#    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
#    without specific prior written permission.
#
# THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
# AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
# IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
# ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
# LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
# CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
# SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
# INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
# CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
# ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
# POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
#
# Modified by Vivek Gite to suit my needs
#
shrink ()
{
 gs \
   -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER \
   -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
   -dCompatibilityLevel=1.3 \
   -dPDFSETTINGS=/screen \
   -dEmbedAllFonts=true \
   -dSubsetFonts=true \
   -dAutoRotatePages=/None \
   -dColorImageDownsampleType=/Bicubic \
   -dColorImageResolution=$3 \
   -dGrayImageDownsampleType=/Bicubic \
   -dGrayImageResolution=$3 \
   -dMonoImageDownsampleType=/Subsample \
   -dMonoImageResolution=$3 \
   -sOutputFile="$2" \
   "$1"
}
 
check_smaller ()
{
 # If $1 and $2 are regular files, we can compare file sizes to
 # see if we succeeded in shrinking. If not, we copy $1 over $2:
 if [ ! -f "$1" -o ! -f "$2" ]; then
 return 0;
 fi
 ISIZE="$(echo $(wc -c "$1") | cut -f1 -d\ )"
 OSIZE="$(echo $(wc -c "$2") | cut -f1 -d\ )"
 if [ "$ISIZE" -lt "$OSIZE" ]; then
 echo "Input smaller than output, doing straight copy" >&2
 cp "$1" "$2"
 fi
}
 
usage ()
{
 echo "Reduces PDF filesize by lossy recompressing with Ghostscript."
 echo "Not guaranteed to succeed, but usually works."
 echo "  Usage: $1 infile [outfile] [resolution_in_dpi]"
}
 
IFILE="$1"
 
# Need an input file:
if [ -z "$IFILE" ]; then
 usage "$0"
 exit 1
fi
 
# Output filename defaults to "-" (stdout) unless given:
if [ ! -z "$2" ]; then
 OFILE="$2"
else
 OFILE="-"
fi
 
# Output resolution defaults to 72 unless given:
if [ ! -z "$3" ]; then
 res="$3"
else
 res="90"
fi
 
shrink "$IFILE" "$OFILE" "$res" || exit $?
 
check_smaller "$IFILE" "$OFILE"

How to Reduce PDF File Size in Linux when using bash shell

Download and install the script in your system. Set up executable permissions using the chmod command:

chmod +x ~/bin/shrinkpdf.sh

Run it as follows:

~/bin/shrinkpdf.sh input.pdf output.pdf
 ~/bin/shrinkpdf.sh input.pdf output.pdf 100
 ~/bin/shrinkpdf.sh input.pdf output.pdf 120

Use the [nixcmd name=”ls”] to list file size:

ls -lh input.pdf
 ls -lh output.pdf

Comparing orignal vs compressed pdf file quality

1. input.pdf (original file [1018K])
2. output.pdf (compressed file [217K])

Conclusion

I often use this tiny script to reduce the file size of a scanned PDF file that I need to email/upload or store it on my NAS server for future reference. Most government or third party sites put restrictions on PDF file size uploads. Hence, using this script can help you reduce the size and upload files. The source of original shell script is here