AN.ONYMOUS  I got a quick email reply but the demo license code in it did not work.

Don't loose your time with people who multiply obstacles to testing their stuff.  
(Version 5.7)

AN.ONYMOUS  After you have downloaded you cannot use the demo immediately. You must send an email and wait for a demo licence. It is much less convenient (and spam proof) than PDFShrink, but it seems thatPDFCompress lets one choose precisely how much the file will be compressed. A thing that PDFShrink does not.  
(Version 5.7)

GETSOMESAUCE  Just to expound on TFINDLAY's wise words, with Quartz Filters, you can take total control of the compression process. In Leopard (perhaps Tiger or earlier, I'm don't recall), in your Utilities folder you'll find "ColorSync Utility". With this program, you can create you own quartz filters which allow to you compress PDFs as much as you see fit. When you start ColorSync Utility, you'll see how Apple programmed their "Reduce File Size" quartz filter that you see in Preview. It's remarkably easy to make your own filter by modeling it off Apple's filter. Head on over to for a quick tutorial. Also, some nice guy on Apple's Discussion boards put up a bunch of premade filters you can download that do the same thing. A follow-up poster even posted AppleScript code and Automator recommendations to make compressing PDFs a snap! Check out for more on that. Happy PDF-Shrinking!  
(Version 5.7)

RHODEE  Isn't that interesting. One learns a great deal here from just reading the comments.

I didn't know about the quartz filter. Tried it on a 492 k doc which reduced to 68k. Bloody amazing.

Thanks macupdate and keep up the great job.

rhodee  
(Version 5.6.1)

TFINDLAY  Maybe I'm missing something but Preview can reduce PDFs. Open a PDF then choose Save As... Select PDF in the popup menu and select Quartz Filter: Reduce File Size.  
(Version 5.6.1)

TOMIS  I know another great application for creating small PDFs, suitable for sending via email and the web...

It's called DropStuff, it's included in Stuffit Standard, and it's FREE

Use the SitX compression with blockmode, optimizers and Compression Via Analysis on, and you'll get nice compact files.  
(Version 4.4.3)

ANONYMOUS  pdfCompress is a decent app, but I much prefer PDFshrink -- great preset system.

http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/9206  
(Version 4.4)

JIM EVERETT  I find this an indispensible tool for shrinking files to send to clients via e-mail. It is easy to change and optimize settings (if required) for each document.

Today, I took a 24 page, 30MB PDF file with text and hi-res pictures, and shrank it to less than 2MB. The smaller file still was good enough to print (including photo insert pics) with decent quality. Never had any problems with stability.  
(Version 4.3.1)

ANONYMOUS  Application crashes when i print thru PDF Services. Output is corrupt many times. pdfshrink is a better product imho.  
(Version 4.3.1)

MARK  A nice program, but watch out choosing the options from the print menu. This has consistently crashed every program I've run this under with OS 10.2.3.   
(Version 4.3.1)