PDF statistics 2026: verified numbers, with sources
Every number on this page comes from a primary source and carries the date it was checked. Numbers we could not verify from their source are not here — the section near the end says which.
How common is PDF on the open web?
Common Crawl archives a sample of the public web each month and publishes the file types it found. These are its three most recent crawls; the latest is CC-MAIN-2026-39.
20,946,500
PDF files in the latest crawl, out of 2,171,285,702 pages crawled
0.965%
of everything crawled is a PDF — about one page in a hundred
181×
more PDFs than Word documents on the open web, and 380× more than Excel files
| Crawl | PDFs | Share | Word (.doc, .docx) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC-MAIN-2026-30 | 21,345,041 | 0.993% | 120,819 |
| CC-MAIN-2026-34 | 22,052,970 | 1.031% | 123,006 |
| CC-MAIN-2026-39 | 20,946,500 | 0.965% | 115,463 |
Detecting the type from the content finds 326,035 more PDFs than the servers declared. Some PDFs are sent with a generic or wrong type, which can make a browser save them instead of opening them.
Counts use the file type detected from the content (Apache Tika), not the type the server declares. Common Crawl is a large sample, not the whole web, and how it chooses pages changes over time — so year-to-year shares are not a reliable trend and are not shown. Common Crawl — MIME types · retrieved September 28, 2026
How big can an uploaded PDF be?
Official limits on the portals people most often upload PDFs to, each from the portal’s own page and dated.
| Portal | Limit and source |
|---|---|
| IRCC online applicationsCanada | 4 MB per file on the IRCC secure account, PR Portal and online citizenship application; 5 MB on the IRCC Portal; 2 MB on some formsIRCC Help Centre — file size limits · IRCC Help Centre — reducing file size · checked October 8, 2026 |
| USCIS online filing (evidence uploads)United States | 12 MB per file; PDF, JPG or JPEG (TIFF for some forms)USCIS — Tips for filing forms online · checked September 23, 2026 |
| ImmiAccount visa applicationsAustralia | 5 MB per file; 30 to 60 files per application depending on the visaHome Affairs — attaching documents · checked September 23, 2026 |
| US federal courts (CM/ECF)United States | Set by each court: often 35–50 MB; 10 MB in S.D.N.Y. and the Second CircuitC.D. Cal. — file size limit · Second Circuit — dividing an oversized PDF · checked September 23, 2026 |
| Indian recruitment portals (UPSC, SSC, RRB, IBPS)India | Varies by notification; documents often 200 KB, sometimes 100 KB · checked September 23, 2026 |
| Gmail (personal accounts)Global | 25 MB per messageGmail Help — attachment limits · checked September 23, 2026 |
| EOIR Courts & Appeals System (ECAS)United States | 25 MB per document; PDF or JPG onlyEOIR — ECAS user manual · checked September 27, 2026 |
| Etsy digital downloadsGlobal | 20 MB per file; up to five files per listingEtsy Help — digital listings · checked September 27, 2026 |
| Turnitin submissionsGlobal | Under 100 MB and under 800 pages per fileTurnitin Guides — file requirements · checked September 27, 2026 |
| USAJOBS (federal job applications)United States | 5 MB per resume or documentUSAJOBS Help Center — How to add a resume to your profile · checked October 6, 2026 |
| IRS Documentation Upload ToolUnited States | 15 MB per file, up to 40 files per submission; PDF, JPEG or PNGIRS — Document Upload Tool video script · checked October 6, 2026 |
| Outlook.comGlobal | 25 MB for attached filesMicrosoft Support — Sending limits in Outlook.com · checked October 6, 2026 |
| EU Settlement Scheme (UK)United Kingdom | 6 MB per documentGOV.UK — EU Settlement Scheme: evidence of UK residence · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Yahoo MailGlobal | 25 MB for all attachments in one messageYahoo Help — Message size limits · checked October 6, 2026 |
| VA.gov claim status tool (evidence uploads)United States | 25 MB per file; PDF, GIF, JPEG, BMP or TXTVA.gov — Claim status tool FAQs · checked October 8, 2026 |
| HealthCare.gov Marketplace documentsUnited States | 10 MB per document; PDF, JPEG, JPG, GIF, XML, PNG, TIFF or BMPHealthCare.gov — How do I upload a document? · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Grants.gov application packagesUnited States | Set by each funding agency; Grants.gov suggests keeping the whole package, attachments included, under 200 MBGrants.gov — Applicant FAQs · checked October 8, 2026 |
| USPTO Patent CenterUnited States | 25 MB per PDF document (10 MB per DOCX)USPTO — Patent Center user guide (September 2025) · checked October 8, 2026 |
| U.S. Copyright Office (eCO registration)United States | 500 MB per uploaded fileU.S. Copyright Office — eCO FAQs · checked October 8, 2026 |
| CRA “Submit documents” (My Account and business accounts)Canada | 500 MB in total per submission for most programs; 1 GB for compliance and auditCanada Revenue Agency — Submit documents online · checked October 8, 2026 |
| HMRC compliance check documentsUnited Kingdom | 15 MB per file, up to 10 documents at a time; PDF, JPEG, XLSX, ODS, DOCX, ODT, PPTX or ODPGOV.UK — Send documents to HMRC for a compliance check · checked October 8, 2026 |
| HMRC Customs Declaration Service documentsUnited Kingdom | 10 MB per file, up to 10 files at a time; JPG, PNG, TXT or PDFGOV.UK — Upload documents for the Customs Declaration Service · checked October 8, 2026 |
| HMRC customs comprehensive guarantee applicationUnited Kingdom | 41 MB in total for form CCG1F and all supporting documentsGOV.UK — Apply for a customs comprehensive guarantee · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Companies House “Upload a document”United Kingdom | 4 MB per document, as a PDFCompanies House — Upload a document guidance · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Centrelink online account (document upload)Australia | Under 10 MB for all files in one upload, up to 10 files; JPG, PNG or PDFServices Australia — Centrelink online account help: upload documents · checked October 8, 2026 |
| U.S. Tax Court (DAWSON)United States | 250 MB per PDF documentU.S. Tax Court — DAWSON FAQs · checked October 8, 2026 |
| New York Appellate Division e-filingUnited States | 100 MB per e-filed documentNY Appellate Division, First Department — e-filing rules · checked October 8, 2026 |
| LinkedIn resume uploads (including Easy Apply)Global | Word or PDF; LinkedIn recommends under 2 MBLinkedIn Help — Upload your resume · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Greenhouse job applicationsGlobal | Up to 100 MB per file; DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF or TXTGreenhouse Support — Supported formats for candidate uploads · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Handshake documents (resumes, cover letters, transcripts)United States | 1 MB per document; PDF preferred, DOC or DOCXHandshake Help — How to upload a new document · checked October 8, 2026 |
| UCAS application documentsUnited Kingdom | 5 MB per document; five at a time, 30 per applicationUCAS — Uploading documents to your application · checked October 8, 2026 |
| LSAC law school applications (attachments)United States | 3 MB per attachment, such as a personal statement or résuméLSAC — JD help and FAQs · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Liaison centralized application services (CAS)United States | 15 MB per uploaded documentLiaison — Upload documents · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Student Finance England evidenceUnited Kingdom | 16 MB per fileGOV.UK — Student Finance England how-to guide · checked October 8, 2026 |
| iCloud MailGlobal | 20 MB per message (up to 5 GB with Mail Drop turned on)Apple Support — iCloud Mail limits · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Proton MailGlobal | 25 MB of attachments when sending (50 MB when receiving); up to 100 filesProton Support — Attachment and email size limits · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Zoho Mail (personal accounts)Global | 20 MB per email, attachments includedZoho Mail Help — Attachment limits · checked October 8, 2026 |
| ChatGPT file uploadsGlobal | 512 MB per document and 2 million tokens of text per fileOpenAI Help — Uploading files to ChatGPT · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Claude file uploadsGlobal | 30 MB per file in projects; 500 MB per file and 20 files in a chat; PDFs up to 1,000 pagesClaude Help Center — Upload files to Claude · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Gemini app file uploadsGlobal | 100 MB per file, up to 10 files per promptGemini Apps Help — Upload and analyze files · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Notion file uploadsGlobal | Free plan: 5 MB per file. Paid plans: PDFs under 20 MBNotion Help — Images, files and media · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Microsoft Forms file upload questionsGlobal | Set by the form owner: 10 MB, 100 MB or 1 GB per question, up to 10 filesMicrosoft Support — File upload questions in Microsoft Forms · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Docusign eSignatureGlobal | 50 MB per uploaded document; 200 MB per envelope in totalDocusign Developers — eSignature rules and limits · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Dropbox SignGlobal | 40 MB per file and per upload; up to 500 pages or 40 files per requestDropbox Help — Dropbox Sign system requirements · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Adobe Acrobat SignGlobal | 10 MB per uploaded file; 100 pages per transaction on Acrobat Standard, Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Sign for small businessAdobe Help — Acrobat Sign transaction limits · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Kindle Direct Publishing (paperback manuscripts)Global | 650 MB per manuscript PDFKDP — Paperback submission guidelines · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Send to Kindle for WebGlobal | Documents up to 200 MBAmazon — Send PDF, EPUB and other files to your Kindle · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Shopify files (PDFs and other downloads)Global | 20 MB per generic file, such as a PDFShopify Help Center — Uploading and managing files · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Squarespace file uploadsGlobal | 20 MB per uploaded file; 10 MB per file sent through a formSquarespace Help — Uploading and managing files · Squarespace Help — Form fields explained · checked October 8, 2026 |
| Mailchimp Content StudioGlobal | 10 MB per file (images 1 MB)Mailchimp Help — Use the Content Studio · checked October 8, 2026 |
How long does a PDF job take?
Our own tools, measured three times each on September 28, 2026 (Chrome 153 · Apple M4 Pro); the middle run is shown. Times depend on the computer or phone.
- Compress — 6-page scanned PDF · 10.5 MB: 1.1 s, result 2.1 MB; largest request sent while it ran: 0 bytes.
- Merge — three 10-page PDFs · 28 KB: 0.3 s, result 26 KB; largest request sent while it ran: 0 bytes.
- PDF to JPG — 10-page text PDF · 10 KB: 0.3 s, result 1.9 MB; largest request sent while it ran: 0 bytes.
What is not on this page, and why
Widely repeated figures such as “trillions of PDFs in existence” have no primary source we could check, so they are left out. The dates of the PDF standards are also missing for now: the ISO and Library of Congress pages that record them could not be read and checked when this page was built. They will be added when they can be verified at the source.
Citing these numbers
You are welcome to use these figures. Please cite the original source and this page, with the date:
Common Crawl, MIME type statistics for CC-MAIN-2026-39, via DocuGrip, “PDF statistics 2026”, https://docugrip.com/pdf-statistics (retrieved September 28, 2026).