Scan · Compress Any File · Edit — One Toolkit

Three powerful tools
for your PDFs

Scan — physics-based scanner simulation with 14+ effect layers: channel misregistration, moiré, grain, focus falloff, and more. Compress — Server-side engine PDF reduction, up to 60% smaller while preserving text and fonts. Edit — full canvas editor: whiteout, annotate, stamp, draw, and place signatures. Everything runs on your machine. Nothing uploaded, no signup. Compress & Edit are always free. Scanner: first 3 pages free — unlimited for $5.

Scanner Compressor Editor Signature PDF · JPG · PNG · WEBP · DOCX · ZIP No signup · No cloud

Drop file(s) here or click to browse

PDF · JPG · PNG · WEBP · TIFF · BMP · Max 50 MB · Multi-image supported

PDF

Noise 8
Yellow Tint 1.0
Brightness 1.0
Contrast 1.05
Rotation° 0.4
Skew 0
Sharpness
DPI
Paper & Document
Paper Grain
Auto Deskew
Binding Shadow
Crumpled Paper
Optical Artefacts
Channel Misregistration CCD colour fringing on text edges
JPEG Internalization Scanner firmware compression round-trip
Scan Line Dropout Rare dead-pixel horizontal lines
Moiré Pattern Halftone interference — use for printed source material
Ambient Light Leak Lid not fully closed — edge bleach & warm cast
Motion Smear Page shift during scan — text edge trailing
Focus Gradient Depth-of-field falloff for unflat documents
Multi-page
Back Bleed / Show-through Ghost of reverse page visible through paper — needs 2+ pages
Add Signature
No signature set
Processing… 0%
3Tools
14+Scan effects
60%Max compression
300DPI output
0Files stored
What We Do

Everything your files need

Three independent tools. Use one or all three. Runs locally — your files never leave your machine. Compressor and Editor always free.

🖨

PDF Scanner

3 pages free · $5 unlimited

Not a filter — actual optical physics. Apply scanner artifacts that look genuinely real. Used by researchers, lawyers, journalists, and creatives worldwide.

  • Channel misregistration (CCD colour fringing)
  • Moiré interference patterns
  • Paper back-bleed / show-through
  • Focus gradient depth-of-field
  • Motion smear, JPEG internalization
  • 6 scanner model presets
  • PDF, Image, and ZIP output
Try the Scanner →
🗜

File Compressor

Always free · No limits

Compress any file — PDF, image, Word document, or ZIP — up to 60% smaller. PDF compression preserves vector text and fonts. Images recompressed with quality control. All free, no limits.

  • PDF — preserves text, fonts, and structure
  • Images — JPG, PNG, WEBP with quality control
  • Word, Excel, PowerPoint — DOCX, XLSX, PPTX
  • ZIP — repack at maximum compression
  • Up to 60% size reduction
  • Before/after size comparison
Compress a file →
✏️

PDF Editor

Always free · No limits

A full canvas editor in the browser. Redact sensitive content, annotate, sign, and export a compressed, pixel-perfect PDF.

  • Whiteout and blackout redaction
  • Highlight, rectangle, circle, arrow, line
  • Text with font, size, bold, italic, color
  • Freehand draw and stamps
  • Draw or upload signature
  • Select, move, resize any annotation
  • Page thumbnails, zoom, undo/redo
Open the Editor →
Deep Dive

What makes each tool different

Three tools, each with genuine depth. Here's what's under the hood.

🖨

PDF Scanner

Physics-based optical simulation — not a filter

3 pages free · $5 unlimited

Crisp Text Preservation

Grain applies only to bright background pixels — ink stays clean. Letters remain razor sharp at any zoom level.

Channel Misregistration

CCD-bar scanners read R, G, and B in separate passes. Sub-millimetre vibration offsets them, producing the characteristic colour fringing on text edges.

Auto Deskew

Projection-profile algorithm detects and corrects tilt up to ±10°, simulating real-world scanner misalignment convincingly.

Advanced

Back Bleed / Show-through

Real paper is semi-translucent. Each page bleeds a faint ghost of its reverse side — a detail no other tool simulates. Needs 2+ pages to activate.

Advanced

Focus Gradient

Depth-of-field blur that increases away from a chosen edge — simulating a document that wasn't fully flat on the glass. Configurable edge and intensity.

100% Private Processing

Everything runs on your machine locally. Files are never uploaded, never stored. Close the tab and nothing remains.

Process

How the scanner works

Upload your file

Drop any PDF or image — JPG, PNG, WEBP, TIFF, BMP — up to 50 MB. Multi-page PDFs are handled page by page in parallel.

Choose your preset

Pick Light, Medium, or Heavy — or select a scanner model, or open the advanced panel to fine-tune 14+ individual effect parameters.

Download instantly

Receive a PDF, original image, or ZIP of PNGs — with warmth, grain, vignette, sensor artefacts, and physics-based effects baked in.

🗜

File Compressor

PDF, images, Word docs, ZIP — all in one tool

Always free · No limits

PDF — Structure-Aware Compression

Our compression engine understands the PDF object model — recompresses embedded images while leaving vector paths, fonts, and text streams untouched. Output stays selectable and searchable. Also handles DOCX, XLSX, PPTX by recompressing their embedded images, and repacks ZIPs at maximum deflate.

Quality Controls Per File Type

PDFs: High Quality (150 DPI), Medium (100 DPI bicubic), and Small File (smart rasterization). Images: quality slider from 20–100% with format conversion to JPEG, PNG, or WEBP. Office files and ZIPs: max DEFLATE repack with embedded image recompression.

✏️

PDF Editor

Full canvas annotation and redaction, in the browser

Always free · No limits

Full Annotation Suite

Whiteout and blackout redaction, highlight, rectangle, circle, arrow, line, freehand pen, text with full font controls, stamps, and an eraser that removes any annotation. All with undo/redo up to 80 steps.

Cross-tool

Signature — Draw or Upload

Available in both the Editor and the Scanner. Draw freehand on a canvas or upload a PNG. Place, drag, resize. The Editor embeds it into the exported PDF; the Scanner bakes it into the scanned effect.

Free Tool · PDF · Images · Docs · ZIP

Compress any file

Compress anything — PDFs preserve vector text and fonts (up to 60% smaller), images with quality control, Word and Office documents, and ZIP files. All free, no page limits, nothing uploaded.

Drop any file here

PDF · JPG · PNG · WEBP · DOCX · XLSX · PPTX · ZIP · Max 50 MB

PDF
Before—
After—
Free Tool

Edit your document

A full canvas editor built into ScanDrift. Redact sensitive info, annotate, add text and shapes, place stamps, attach a drawn or uploaded signature — then export as a our compression engine-compressed PDF at the original page size.

Whiteout Blackout Highlight Text Draw Shapes Stamp Signature Select & Resize Undo / Redo Zoom

Drop your PDF or image here

PDF · JPG · PNG · WEBP · Max 50 MB

FILE
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Scanner: PDF, JPG, PNG, WEBP, TIFF, BMP. Compressor: PDF, JPG, PNG, WEBP, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, and ZIP. Editor: PDF, JPG, PNG, WEBP. Maximum file size is 50 MB across all tools.
The File Compressor and PDF Editor are always free with no page limits and no watermarks. The Scanner gives you the first 3 pages of any document for free. Beyond 3 pages requires a one-time $5 unlock, valid for 10 hours. No subscriptions, no recurring charges.
No. The entire pipeline runs locally locally on your own machine. Files are deleted immediately after processing — nothing stored externally, ever.
Absolutely. A common workflow is: edit the document first (redact, annotate, sign), export the edited PDF, apply the scanner effect to make it look physically scanned, then compress the result before sending. Each tool is independent — use any combination in any order.
CCD-bar scanners read the red, green, and blue channels in separate physical passes. Even a fraction of a millimetre of vibration offsets them, producing colour fringing on the edges of dark text against a light background. Enabling this makes budget scanner profiles especially convincing.
Yes — the compressor is completely free with no limits. It supports PDF, images (JPG, PNG, WEBP), Word and Office documents (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX), and ZIP files. Upload any file up to 50 MB and download the compressed version instantly. The $5 unlock only applies to the scanner tool when processing more than 3 pages.
Yes — the editor is completely free with no page limits. Open any PDF or image, annotate it with whiteout, highlights, text, shapes, stamps, or a signature, then export as a compressed PDF. No account, no watermark, no restrictions.
Grain is applied only to pixels above a luma brightness threshold — paper background only. Ink and text pixels are skipped entirely, keeping letters crisp.
Only when your source document is or should appear to be a printed halftone — magazines, newspapers, offset-printed books. The effect is wrong for plain text documents. The "Magazine / Print Scan" scanner model enables it automatically.
Yes. The scanner and editor work on Windows, macOS, and Linux with the local server. The PDF compressor requires our compression engine to be installed separately (available free from the official compression engine site). The scanner and editor use our rendering pipeline, which installs automatically and needs no extra software.