How It Works
PdfReducta is built for professionals but designed to be simple enough for everyone. Here's how it works under the hood.
🎯 Features
5-Zone Compression Control
Granular power slider with color-coded zones (Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red). Each zone precisely maps to DPI, JPEG quality, and compression settings.
Adaptive Interface
Automatically switches between simple mode (one file, instant processing) and batch mode (multiple files, full control). The UI adapts to your workflow.
Real-time Progress Tracking
Watch compression happen in real-time with per-file and overall progress indicators. See exact file sizes before and after compression.
100% Local Processing
All compression happens on your Mac. No files leave your computer. No cloud uploads, no tracking, no external servers.
Native macOS Design
Built with SwiftUI for native performance. Supports drag & drop, system keyboard shortcuts, and macOS conventions.
Fast & Efficient
Powered by Ghostscript, the industry-standard PDF processor. Compresses files quickly while preserving quality.
⚙️ Powered by Ghostscript
PdfReducta uses Ghostscript's industry-standard PDF optimization engine under the hood. Each compression zone maps to specific settings:
How it works: PdfReducta downsamples images to the target DPI, applies JPEG compression at the specified quality level, and optimizes the PDF structure. Higher compression (right side of slider) means smaller files but lower image quality.
🛠️ One-Time Setup
This is a one-time setup. Installation is quick and required only once.
Nothing is broken — PdfReducta just needs one external tool to run.
Automatic Installation
When you first launch PdfReducta, it will check if Ghostscript is installed. If not, you'll see a simple setup screen with two options:
Option 1: Install Ghostscript only
If you already have Homebrew installed, this option will just install Ghostscript.
Option 2: Install Homebrew + Ghostscript
If you don't have Homebrew yet, this option installs both. Homebrew is a popular
package manager for macOS used by millions of developers.
The installation runs in your Terminal and takes 1-3 minutes. Once done, you're all set! You'll never need to do this again.
📖 Learn More
Have questions? Check out the FAQ page for common questions about compression ratios, file compatibility, and more.