How to Resize a PDF: Change Page Size or Make the File Smaller

To resize a PDF, open it in a PDF resize tool, choose the new paper size (for example A4, Letter or a custom width and height), pick how the old content should fit the new page, and save a new copy. If what you actually need is a smaller file to email or upload, that is a different job: you compress the PDF instead of changing its page size.

This guide covers both meanings, explains the three ways content can fit a new page, and lists the settings that keep text sharp and links working.

What does it mean to resize a PDF?

Resizing a PDF means one of two things, and it helps to know which one you need before you start.

You want to	What changes	Tool to use
Print a Letter PDF on A4 paper (or the reverse)	Page dimensions	Resize PDF
Make every page the same size	Page dimensions	Resize PDF
Remove white margins or a scanner border	The visible area of each page	Crop PDF
Get under an email or portal size limit	File size in KB or MB	Compress PDF
Turn a page sideways	Orientation only	Rotate PDF

Changing the page size does not make the file noticeably smaller, and compressing does not change the page size. Many people try one when they need the other.

How to resize a PDF page size, step by step

These steps use the free WoowPDF resize tool, which works in your browser with no sign up.

1. Open Resize PDF and add your file.
2. Under paper size, choose A4, Letter, Legal, A3, A5, B5 or Tabloid. For anything else, choose Custom and type the width and height in millimetres or inches.
3. Set the orientation. "Per page" keeps each page's own direction, so a landscape chart page gets a landscape sheet. Portrait or Landscape forces every page one way.
4. Pick how the content fits the new page: fit, fill or stretch (explained below).
5. Optional: open Advanced to add a margin of up to 40 mm, or to fill the empty space around fitted pages with a colour.
6. Check the live preview. It shows each page's old size and new size, for example 216 × 279 mm → 210 × 297 mm.
7. Download the resized PDF.

The tool does not turn pages into pictures. It scales the original page content, so text stays sharp and selectable, and links, comments and form fields move with the content.

Fit, fill or stretch: which option should you choose?

The fit option is right for almost every document because it keeps the whole page visible. The other two are for special cases.

Option	What happens	Use it for
Fit	The whole page is scaled to fit inside the new size. If the shapes differ, thin empty bands appear on two sides.	Contracts, forms, invoices, anything where nothing may be cut off
Fill	The page is scaled to cover the new size completely, and whatever sticks out at the edges is trimmed.	Posters, photos and slides where edge to edge matters more than the border
Stretch	The page is pulled to the exact new size, so it can look wider or taller than before.	Only when the size difference is tiny, such as Letter to A4 for a plain text page

A4 (210 × 297 mm) is narrower and taller than US Letter (8.5 × 11 in, about 216 × 279 mm). Going from Letter to A4 with fit leaves a small band at the top and bottom; going from A4 to Letter leaves a small band at the sides. Most readers never notice it.

Common paper sizes for PDFs

Use this table when a printer, portal or client asks for a specific size.

Paper	Millimetres	Inches	Where it is standard
Letter	215.9 × 279.4	8.5 × 11	United States, Canada
Legal	215.9 × 355.6	8.5 × 14	US legal and some government forms
Tabloid	279.4 × 431.8	11 × 17	Posters, drawings, spreadsheets
A4	210 × 297	8.27 × 11.69	Most of the world
A3	297 × 420	11.69 × 16.54	Drawings, large charts
A5	148 × 210	5.83 × 8.27	Booklets, flyers
B5	176 × 250	6.93 × 9.84	Books and notebooks

If a US or Canadian office sends you an A4 PDF to sign and print, resize it to Letter first so the printer does not shrink or clip it on its own.

How to resize a PDF file size instead

If your goal is a smaller file, use compression, not page resizing. Compression rewrites the large images inside the PDF at a lower resolution and removes data the document does not need, while the page size stays the same.

1. Open Compress PDF and add the file.
2. Choose a compression level (stronger for scans and photos, lighter for text PDFs), or switch to target size and enter the KB limit the portal asks for.
3. Download it and check the new size.

Scanned PDFs shrink the most, because they are pictures of pages. A PDF made from Word that is mostly text is often already small, and compression changes little. Our guide on how to compress PDF files explains the levels and when to stop.

Can you resize a PDF without Adobe Acrobat?

Yes. You do not need Acrobat to change a PDF's page size.

• In a browser: a free online resize tool like ours works on Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iPhone and Android.
• Print to PDF: on Windows or Mac, you can open the PDF, choose Print, select "Microsoft Print to PDF" or "Save as PDF", pick a paper size and enable "Fit" or "Scale to fit". This works, but some print drivers flatten the pages, which can drop links and form fields.
• Preview on Mac: choose File, then Print, click Show Details, pick the paper size and scale, then use the PDF menu at the bottom and Save as PDF.

The print route is fine for a quick printout. For a file you will send on or fill in later, a real resize keeps links and fields intact.

Mistakes to avoid when resizing a PDF

• Using stretch on very different sizes. Letter to Legal with stretch makes text visibly tall and thin. Use fit.
• Expecting a smaller file. Page resizing barely changes the size in MB. Compress instead.
• Forgetting mixed orientations. A report with landscape tables should use "Per page" orientation, or the tables end up tiny on a portrait sheet.
• Printing with "Fit to page" on top. Once the PDF is the right size, print at 100% (actual size) so the printer does not scale it a second time.
• Resizing a scan to fix blur. Resizing cannot add detail. A blurry scan stays blurry at any page size.

Resize your PDF now

Pick the paper size you need, keep the content on fit, and check the preview before you download. Open the free Resize PDF tool to change A4 to Letter, make every page the same size, or set a custom size in a few seconds.

Frequently asked questions

How do I resize a PDF to Letter size?

Open a PDF resize tool, choose Letter (8.5 × 11 in) as the paper size, keep the fit option so nothing is cut off, and download the new file. The content is scaled to the new page, so text stays sharp.

Does resizing a PDF reduce its file size?

Not in any useful way. Changing the page size scales the existing content but keeps the same images and fonts. To make the file smaller, compress the PDF instead.

How do I make all pages in a PDF the same size?

Resize the whole document to one paper size, such as A4 or Letter. Every page is scaled to that size, and with Per page orientation the landscape pages get a landscape sheet of the same paper size.

Will resizing a PDF make the text blurry?

Not when the tool scales the original page content, as WoowPDF's resize tool does. Text and vector drawings stay sharp. Blur only comes from tools that turn pages into images first, or from a blurry scan to begin with.

What is the difference between resizing and cropping a PDF?

Resizing changes the paper size and scales the content to it. Cropping keeps the scale and cuts away part of each page, such as white margins. Use crop to remove borders and resize to change the paper size.