Bundle PDFs into a ZIP archive
Bundle several PDFs into one archive, with every file left intact.
PDFs, or anything else. Drop them anywhere on this page.
What to know about PDF to ZIP
Send several documents as one attachment without merging them into one document. Each file goes into the archive exactly as it is — not re-saved, not re-compressed, not altered in any way — so signatures and certifications survive. The archive is built on your device.
Merge PDF is the most-used tool on most PDF sites, and a good share of the people using it want something else. The question that brings them is "how do I send these as one thing", and merging is only the right answer when the result should genuinely read as a single document. Six signed contracts, a folder of invoices, a set of certificates — those have to arrive as six files, because the recipient will need to forward one, file another, and verify a third.
An archive answers that question properly. The files stay files; they are just delivered in one container.
The property that matters most here is what does not happen. This tool never opens a PDF. It does not parse the page tree, it does not re-save through a PDF library, it does not re-encode anything — each file's bytes are copied into the archive and copied out again identically. That is what makes it safe for documents where the bytes themselves carry meaning: a digital signature covers the exact bytes of a file, so merging invalidates every signature involved, and bundling invalidates none of them.
Storing rather than deflating follows from the same reasoning. A PDF is already compressed — its content streams are Flate-encoded, and any photograph inside one is a JPEG on top of that. Running general-purpose compression across data that has already been compressed twice typically recovers under one percent, in exchange for real seconds of the reader's own processor. So the bytes go in as they are, the archive is built almost instantly, and the honest advice for anyone who needs a smaller result is to compress the PDFs first and then bundle them.
Two smaller decisions are worth mentioning because they are the sort of thing that quietly ruins an archive. Duplicate filenames are legal inside a ZIP, and most extraction tools resolve them by overwriting without a word — so three files all named scan.pdf extract as one file, and nobody finds out until the other two are needed. Names are made distinct while the archive is built, and shown to you first. And the format's per-file modification time is set to a fixed date rather than to now, because an archive that records the moment and timezone of its creation is disclosing something about you that has nothing to do with its contents.
Everything happens in your browser. The files are read, packed and handed back without a byte leaving the device — which matters most for exactly the documents people bundle: contracts, statements, medical records and identity papers, sent as one attachment because that is what the form asked for.
How to put PDFs into a ZIP file
- 1
Choose your files
Pick them or drop them in. Add as many as you need — they are read on your device and nothing is sent anywhere.
- 2
Set the order and the names
Drag the cards to reorder. Two files with the same name are given distinct ones automatically rather than one silently replacing the other.
- 3
Build and download
The archive is assembled in your browser and saved straight to your device.
What PDF to ZIP accepts and produces
- Input
- Two or more files. PDFs are the point, but anything can go in.
- Output
- One .zip containing each file under its own name, in the order you set.
- Limits
- Files are stored rather than compressed, so the archive is about the size of its contents. That is deliberate: PDF streams are already compressed and deflating them again gains close to nothing for real processing time.
- Offline
- Yes, entirely, after your first visit.
Why PDF to ZIP here
- Every file comes out byte-identical — signed documents stay valid
- Nothing is merged, so the boundary between documents survives
- Duplicate filenames are disambiguated instead of overwriting each other
- No timestamp is recorded, so the archive does not disclose when you made it
- Built in your browser, so the files never leave your device
Where your file goes
Nowhere. This tool runs inside your browser, and the page is served with a policy that forbids it from sending your document anywhere. You can confirm that yourself: open your browser’s developer tools, watch the Network tab, and process a file.
Questions
When should I use this instead of Merge PDF?
Whenever the documents need to stay separate at the other end. Merging turns six contracts into one file with no boundary between them — you cannot forward the third one on its own, and each document's own metadata and structure are gone. An archive keeps six files and just puts them in one container. Merge when the result should read as one document; bundle when it should not.
Does zipping break a digital signature?
No, and this is the main reason the tool exists. A signature covers the bytes of the file, and nothing here reads, parses or re-saves those bytes — each file is copied into the archive unchanged and comes out the other side identical. Merging, by contrast, invalidates every signature involved, because it produces a genuinely different document.
Why is the ZIP not much smaller than the files?
Because there is very little left to squeeze. A PDF's contents are already Flate-compressed, and any JPEG inside one has been compressed again on top of that. Running deflate over data like that typically saves under one percent while taking real time on your device, so the files are stored as they are and the archive is produced almost instantly. If you need a smaller result, compress the PDFs first and then bundle them.
What happens if two files have the same name?
The second becomes 'name (2).pdf'. Duplicate names are legal inside a ZIP and most extraction tools resolve them by silently overwriting, which would turn an archive of three files into one file on extraction. Two scans both called scan.pdf is the ordinary case, not the edge case, so the names are made distinct while the archive is built and you can see what they will be.
Why does the archive show a date of 1980?
Because it deliberately carries no real timestamp. The ZIP format records a modification time for every entry, and writing the true one would stamp your archive with the moment you made it and, through your device's clock, roughly where in the world you are. For a tool whose point is that nothing about your documents is disclosed, that is the wrong default. 1980 is the earliest date the format can express and is what reproducible builds have used for the same reason for years. A pleasant side effect: the same files always produce a byte-identical archive.
Can I put files other than PDFs in it?
Yes. Nothing here is specific to PDF — the archive will take images, spreadsheets, anything you drop in. The tool is named for PDFs because that is the problem people arrive with, not because of a restriction.
Are the files uploaded to build the archive?
They are not. The ZIP is assembled by a worker inside this tab, byte by byte, and handed straight back to you. Open your browser's network panel while you build one — nothing carrying a file goes out, and it works with the network switched off.
Worth reading about PDF to ZIP
- Sending several documents at onceMerging, zipping and splitting solve different problems. Which one to reach for when you have several files to send and a size limit you have to meet.
- Your PDF is too large to emailGmail, Outlook and corporate servers each cut off at a different size, and encoding inflates your file in transit. The real limits, and four ways past them.