Flattening turns interactive parts of a PDF into plain page content. This tool has two modes. Flatten form fields uses pdf-lib to draw each field's current value onto the page and remove the field, so the answers can no longer be edited. Text stays selectable and searchable, and the file stays about the same size.
Flatten everything renders each page with pdf.js and saves it as an image at 150, 200 or 300 DPI. Form fields, comments, sticky-note icons, stamps, drawing markup and optional layers are all baked into the picture exactly as they look on screen. Use it when a print shop, portal or court system rejects files with annotations, or when you want a copy that looks identical in every viewer.
The trade-off of the image mode is that text can't be selected, searched or copied any more, and the file is usually larger. Field flattening only covers form fields; comments and markup stay as they are, which the tool tells you before you run it.