Compress DOCX: Reduce Word File Size Online

To compress a DOCX file, drop the Word document here and click Compress DOCX. The tool shrinks large JPEG photos inside the file and repacks the whole document with maximum compression, then shows the size before and after. Text, styles, tables and layout are not touched, the document never leaves your browser, and the result downloads as -compressed.docx.

How to reduce Word file size online

1. Add one or more .docx files.
2. Leave Also shrink large images on for the biggest saving, or turn it off to keep every picture byte for byte.
3. Click Compress DOCX.
4. Check the before, after and reduction figures, then download. Several files come as a ZIP.

Why are Word files so large?

A DOCX file is a ZIP archive of text (XML) and media. The text is tiny. Almost all of the size comes from these:

• Photos pasted from a phone or camera. Each one can be 3 to 5 MB, even when it shows as a small picture on the page.
• Cropped pictures. Word hides the cropped part but keeps it in the file.
• Embedded fonts. If "Embed fonts in the file" is on, Word stores whole font files inside the document.
• Image editing data. Word keeps the original picture so you can undo edits such as color changes.

This compressor deals with the biggest one, large photos, without opening Word. The next section shows how to fix the rest inside Word.

What this DOCX compressor changes

Part of the document	What happens
JPEG photos larger than 150 KB	Scaled to at most 2000 px on the longest side and saved again at quality 78, only if that makes them smaller
Small JPEGs, PNG, GIF and other images	Kept exactly as they are
Text, styles, tables, headers, comments	Unchanged
The DOCX package itself	Repacked with the strongest ZIP (DEFLATE) level

2000 pixels is still sharp on a full page printed at about 170 DPI, so the document looks the same on screen and on paper.

How to reduce Word file size in Microsoft Word

Prefer to do it by hand, or need an even smaller file? These steps work in Word for Windows and Word for Mac:

1. Compress pictures. Select a picture, go to Picture Format, then Compress Pictures. Clear "Apply only to this picture", tick "Delete cropped areas of pictures" and pick a lower resolution, such as 150 ppi.
2. Stop embedding fonts. Go to File, Options, Save and clear "Embed fonts in the file". On a Mac, find the same option under Word, Preferences, Save.
3. Discard editing data. In File, Options, Advanced, under Image Size and Quality, tick "Discard editing data".
4. Save a copy and compare the sizes.

Microsoft explains each option in Reduce the file size of your Word documents. For most files, this online tool gets you most of the saving in one click, with no settings to find.

When the file barely gets smaller

If a document is mostly text, or its pictures are PNG screenshots or already small, there is little to remove. In that case the tool keeps your original file and tells you so, rather than handing back something larger.

Compress a DOCX to 1 MB, 500 KB or 100 KB

This tool does not take a target size. It removes as much as it safely can and shows the result. If a portal needs a Word file under a fixed size, compress it here first and check the new size. If it is still too big and the portal accepts PDF, convert it with Word to PDF and use Compress PDF with a target size, or a preset such as 500 KB or 100 KB. You can push a PDF much smaller than a DOCX.

Typical uses

• Email attachments over the 25 MB limit of Gmail and Outlook.com.
• Job applications and university portals with a size cap per file.
• Reports full of phone photos that are slow to open and sync.
• Shared drives where many versions of the same heavy file pile up.
• Theses and project reports with dozens of scanned figures that a supervisor has to download.

Tip: compress a copy first and compare both files side by side before you replace the original.

Private and free

Compression runs in your browser with JavaScript, so confidential contracts, CVs and reports are never uploaded. There is no sign up and no watermark. Only .docx files are supported: open an old .doc in Word or LibreOffice and save it as .docx first. Related tools: Word to PDF, compress PDF, PDF to Word.