Gmail's 25 MB limit. Outlook's 20 MB. Many corporate filters cap at 10 MB inbound. Your PDF is 32 MB. The clock is ticking.
Compressing for email is a specific kind of compression: hit a size target, accept some quality loss, ship it.
Know your target
Don't aim for "smaller". Aim for under 10 MB if you don't know the recipient's limit, under 20 if you do. Tight targets make compression decisions easier.
If you're sending to multiple recipients, take the smallest known limit.
Use email preset on the compressor
Flint's compressor has email-tuned settings. They balance quality against the size targets common email providers enforce.
Most 30-50 MB PDFs land at 5-15 MB on the email preset. If yours doesn't, see the next step.
When compression isn't enough
Some PDFs (photo-heavy portfolios, long scanned books) won't compress under 10 MB without obvious quality loss.
Option 1: split into multiple files, send as parts. Option 2: upload to a shared drive and link from the email. Option 3: send to the recipient's file-sharing tool of choice.
FAQ
What's the safe size for any email?
Under 10 MB. Some corporate systems still cap there. Under 5 MB is bulletproof.
Will recipients see worse quality?
Possibly, if you compressed aggressively. For text-heavy documents, no visible difference. For photos, noticeable at zoom.
Can I bypass the limit by zipping?
Sometimes. ZIP doesn't usually shrink PDFs much because they're already compressed. Better to compress the PDF directly.
Should I send a link instead of an attachment?
For files over 25 MB, almost always yes. Faster, no size issues, easier to send revised versions.
Email limits are solvable. Drop your file into Flint's compressor on the email preset and send what you needed to send.