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Resize PDF

Change page dimensions to standard or custom sizes

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Resize PDF changes the physical dimensions of every page in a document to a standard paper size (A4, Letter, Legal, A3 and similar) or to a width and height you type in yourself, then rescales the existing page content to fit inside the new boundary. Because it works by shrinking or enlarging what's already on the page rather than reflowing text, a source page whose aspect ratio doesn't match the target size ends up with blank margins on two sides instead of filling the new page edge-to-edge. Users are often surprised that a mixed-size document (a Letter cover bound with A4 body pages, say) gets every page forced to the same target dimensions, so the original proportions between pages are lost, not just standardized.

Worked example

Input
A4 page (595 x 842 pt) resized to US Letter (612 x 792 pt)
Output
Page becomes 612 x 792 pt. Content is scaled by a factor of 792/842 = 0.941, giving a 560 x 792 pt image centered on the new page with roughly 26 pt (about 0.36 in) of blank margin on the left and right; top and bottom reach the page edge.
Why
The scale factor is the smaller of the two ratios (width-fit 612/595=1.029, height-fit 792/842=0.941), so the page is constrained by height; the leftover width becomes an even margin on each side rather than the content stretching to fill it.

How it works

Fit-to-page scaling
For each page the tool reads the current page boundary, then computes one scale factor equal to the smaller of (target width / current width) and (target height / current height). That factor is applied uniformly to the page's content so nothing is cropped and proportions are preserved, then the scaled content is centered on the new page boundary, leaving any leftover space as an even margin on whichever axis wasn't the limiting one.
Standard sizes and custom dimensions
A preset list (A4, Letter, Legal, A3, and similar) supplies fixed target dimensions; a custom option instead takes a width and height you enter directly, typically in millimeters, inches, or points. The chosen target applies to the whole document in one pass. All of this runs in the browser tab against a local copy of the file, so nothing is uploaded to a server to be resized.

When to use it

  • Standardizing a document built from mixed Letter and A4 pages so it prints consistently on one paper size
  • Normalizing scanned pages of varying dimensions into one uniform page size before merging them into a single PDF
  • Shrinking oversized spreadsheet or CAD export pages down to Letter or A4 so they print correctly on an ordinary printer

Worth knowing

  • If the target aspect ratio doesn't match the source page's aspect ratio, you'll see blank margins on two sides rather than the content stretching to fill the new page.
  • Text and vector graphics are rescaled along with the page, so on-page font size changes proportionally too - resizing isn't just a change to the page frame.
  • Raster images embedded at their original resolution will look softer or blurrier if the resize enlarges the page, since the same pixels are now stretched over a larger area.

Frequently asked

Does resizing crop my content, or scale it?
It scales, never crops. The full page content is resized proportionally to fit inside the new dimensions, so nothing is cut off. If the new page has a different aspect ratio than the original, the leftover space appears as blank margins rather than the content being stretched unevenly to fill it.
Will resizing make my file smaller?
No. Changing page dimensions only rescales the existing content; it doesn't re-compress or downsample embedded images. File size before and after is typically about the same. If you need a smaller file, run a compression tool separately after resizing.

References

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