Quick answer
Some of the most valuable PDF search terms are not the tiny limits like 100KB or 200KB. They are the practical limits people see every day in email and upload forms: 1MB and 2MB.
Those targets are common because they are small enough to pass through many systems but large enough to preserve decent readability. That makes them useful for contracts, resumes, scanned forms, certificates, and administrative documents.
What usually works best
A good starting point is 1MB or 2MB if the website or email system allows it, then go lower only when necessary. Chasing the smallest possible PDF often hurts readability faster than people expect.
ExactSizer now supports MB-based targets directly, which is important because many users think in MB rather than KB when they are preparing documents for email, ATS systems, or official uploads.
If it still fails
If the file is still too large, the PDF controls help you choose the tradeoff. The smaller-file profile pushes harder. The sharper-pages profile protects readability more. Render scale and quality cap give you extra control when one-click compression is not enough.
This matters in real life. People are not trying to win a compression contest. They are trying to submit, share, or archive a document without the upload system rejecting it. That is the standard the tool should serve.