A user-friendly graphical desktop program called Minimal PDF Compress was created to make using Ghostscript for PDF compression and conversion on Windows easier. Through an easy-to-use GUI (Graphical User Interface), users can compress PDF files or convert them to PDF/A format with customisable parameters. This application, which was created with Python and Tkinter, makes PDF processing accessible to all users by doing away with the requirement for command-line interactions.
The command prompt's text-based format, intricate syntax, and lack of instant response can make it frightening for many users. Despite its strength, Ghostscript usually requires command-line knowledge to accomplish things like converting PDFs to PDF/A or compressing PDFs.
Note: In a technical sense, Ghostscript's pdfwrite tool does not "compress" PDFs. Rather, it creates a new PDF, which might be smaller because of optimizations like recompressing images, simplifying typefaces, or eliminating superfluous metadata.
Minimal PDF Compress 1.1.0 changelog:
- The main "Operation" dropdown now includes quality presets (Screen, Ebook, Printer, Prepress) for easy control over the size vs. quality trade-off.
- The application interface no longer locks up during processing, by introducing background threading.
- The 60-second timeout has been removed, allowing for the processing of very large files and extensive batch jobs without interruption.
- Fixed a bug where the gswin64c.exe process could remain open after the application was closed.
- The app now prioritizes a local, portable Ghostscript installation (in bin and lib folders) before searching for a system-wide installation.
- An animated progress bar provides clear visual feedback that a task is running.
Installation
- Download the prebuilt Minimal PDF Compress.exe using the link below.
- Double-click the file to open the app — no setup required.
- If Ghostscript isn’t installed yet, the app will prompt you to get it.
What You’ll Need
- Ghostscript is required for the app to work. If you don’t have it, just download and install it from the official Ghostscript website.
Download: Minimal PDF Compress 1.1.0 | 22.6 MB (Open Source)
View: Minimal PDF Compress Home Page | Screenshot
