--- title: "Recompress PDFs using MRC compression in C#" canonical_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/dotnet/samples/recompress-pdf-mrc-cs/" md_url: "https://www.nutrient.io/guides/dotnet/samples/recompress-pdf-mrc-cs.md" last_updated: "2026-05-21T17:12:02.215Z" description: "Learn how to recompress complex PDF documents using MRC compression to significantly reduce file size while maintaining quality." --- # Recompress existing PDFs using MRC compression in C# Mixed raster content (MRC) compression is useful for compressing complex PDF documents to reduce their file size. This example shows how to recompress existing PDF documents, benefiting from the enhanced MRC compression mechanism. [Get Started](https://www.nutrient.io/sdk/dotnet/getting-started.md) [All Samples](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/dotnet/samples.md) [Download](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/dotnet/downloads.md) [Launch Demo](https://www.nutrient.io/demo/) --- ### C# [C#](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/dotnet/samples/recompress-pdf-mrc-cs.md) ### VB.NET [VB.NET](https://www.nutrient.io/guides/dotnet/samples/recompress-pdf-mrc-vbnet.md) ```cs //We assume that GdPicture has been correctly installed and unlocked. using (GdPicturePDF pdf = new GdPicturePDF()) { GdPictureStatus status = pdf.LoadFromFile("source.pdf", false); if (status == GdPictureStatus.OK) { //Setting MRC options. pdf.SetMRCImageBackgroundResolution(100); //You can set it to true to obtain a better quality rendering, but it produces a bigger file. pdf.SetMRCPreserveSmoothing(false); //You can also set the compression values for images here, for example: pdf.SetCompressionForBitonalImage(PdfCompression.PdfCompressionJBIG2); pdf.SetCompressionForColorImage(PdfCompression.PdfCompressionJPEG2000); //Using the negative value permits to specify better quality factor versus a compression rate. pdf.SetJpeg2000Quality(-60); int pageCount = pdf.GetPageCount(); status = pdf.GetStat(); for (int pageNo = 1; (pageNo <= pageCount) && (status == GdPictureStatus.OK); pageNo++) { status = pdf.SelectPage(pageNo); if (status == GdPictureStatus.OK) { //We can ignore hiddent text in the example. bool isPageImage = pdf.IsPageImage(true); status = pdf.GetStat(); if (status == GdPictureStatus.OK) { if (isPageImage) { //As the page is image-based, the image number is 1 and we can extract this image. int imageID = pdf.ExtractPageImage(1); status = pdf.GetStat(); if (status == GdPictureStatus.OK) { //Getting the resource name of the extracted image, the index of the image to be used here is 0. string imageResName = pdf.GetPageImageResName(0); status = pdf.GetStat(); if (status == GdPictureStatus.OK) { //The original image is replaced with the compressed image on the whole page surface here. status = pdf.ReplaceImageMRC(imageResName, imageID); //You need to dispose the used image resource here. GdPictureDocumentUtilities.DisposeImage(imageID); } } } } } } if (status == GdPictureStatus.OK) { status = pdf.SaveToFile("dest.pdf", true); if (status == GdPictureStatus.OK) MessageBox.Show("The example has been followed successfully and the file has been saved.", "MRC Compression Example", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information); else MessageBox.Show("The example has been followed successfully, but the file can't be saved. Status: " + status.ToString(), "MRC Compression Example", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); } else MessageBox.Show("The example has NOT been followed successfully. Status: " + status.ToString(), "MRC Compression Example", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); } else MessageBox.Show("The file can't be loaded. Status: " + status.ToString(), "MRC Compression Example", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error); } ``` This code sample is an example that illustrates how to use our SDK. 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