Linearize PDF
Optimise a PDF for fast web viewing (linearise)
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About Linearize PDF
Linearising restructures a PDF for Fast Web View. The objects needed to draw the first page are moved to the front of the file, so a reader can display page one while the rest is still arriving instead of waiting for the whole download.
Restructuring runs in a dedicated web worker on this machine. The file is rewritten locally and never uploaded.
How to use Linearize PDF
- Add a PDF — the tool processes one file per run.
- Select Linearize PDF. qpdf rewrites the object order and adds the hint tables.
- Read the size line in the result, which should be close to the original.
- Save the _linearized.pdf and upload it to wherever the file is hosted.
On a production
A lookbook of two hundred megabytes is linked from a production website. Unlinearised, a viewer stares at a blank frame until the entire file lands. Linearised, the cover appears almost at once — which decides whether anyone sees page two at all.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this make the file smaller?
- No, and it is not meant to. Linearising changes the order of objects rather than recompressing them — to reduce size, use a compression tool instead or as well.
- Does the document look any different?
- Not at all. The rendered result is identical; only the internal layout of the file changes. Nothing about the visible pages is altered.
- Why should linearising be the last step?
- Most other tools rewrite the file when they process it and drop the Fast Web View ordering. Make any further edits first, then linearise the finished version.
- When is it not worth doing?
- For small files, and for documents that are downloaded before being opened rather than streamed in a browser. The benefit only appears when a reader renders progressively over a network.