Acrobat found a picture on the page whose data ends early or can’t be decoded, so it stops drawing it. Open the PDF in Chrome, Edge or Preview: they often show the page anyway. To fix the file itself, Repair PDF rewrites it, and as a last resort rebuilds damaged pages from what a viewer can still draw.
Runs in this tab, on pdf-lib, qpdf (WebAssembly) and pdf.js, so your file is read from your own device and never sent anywhere. Check it yourself
How do I fix it?
1Open it in another viewerDrag the PDF into Chrome or Edge, or open it in Preview on a Mac. If the page shows, the content is there and only Acrobat objects to it.
2Update Acrobat or ReaderInstall the latest update. If the error started after an update, report it to Adobe with the file — and keep viewing it elsewhere meanwhile.
3Repair the fileDrop it on Repair PDF and press Repair PDF. A cleanly rewritten file is often all Acrobat needs.
4Rebuild pages that won’t mendIf a page is still damaged, turn on Rebuild from page images if nothing else works. Pages are redrawn from what can still be shown — the text on those pages is no longer selectable, and the report says which pages were rebuilt.
Why does this happen?
A truncated image. The picture’s data was cut short — a download or copy that didn’t finish, or a file damaged on a disk. Acrobat refuses to show an incomplete image; other viewers draw what is there.
An image another program wrote wrongly. Some scanners and PDF makers store images with sizes or compression settings that don’t quite match the data. Most viewers tolerate it; Acrobat is strict.
A newer or rarer compression. Scans compressed with JBIG2 or JPEG 2000 are fine in the standard but trip some Acrobat versions on particular files.
An Acrobat update. The error sometimes appears after an update, on files that opened before. That points to the reader, not the file.
Questions
Why does the PDF open in Chrome but show an error in Acrobat?
Chrome’s viewer draws as much of a damaged image as it can; Acrobat stops at the first problem and reports it. The page content is usually intact.
Will I lose anything by repairing it?
A plain repair keeps everything that can be read. Rebuilding pages from images keeps their look but makes their text unselectable, so it is used only where needed.
Can I just print it to a new PDF?
Yes: print it to PDF from a viewer that shows it correctly. The result opens in Acrobat, though printing usually drops links and bookmarks.
Is the file infected?
Very unlikely. The error is about image data, not about anything running. Still, don’t open files from senders you don’t know.