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Repair a Corrupted PDF, Free

Repair a PDF that won’t open or says it is damaged. The file is checked first, then rebuilt the least lossy way that works — and you see exactly what was wrong and how many pages came back.

Settings appear once you add a PDF.

Advanced 1
Rebuild from page images if nothing else works The last resort for a file whose structure is beyond rebuilding: pages that can still be drawn come back as pictures. They look right, but their text can’t be selected.

Done on your device No upload, no queue, no sign-up.

Bytes sent anywhere: 0 B

How to repair a PDF file that won’t open

  1. Add your PDFs

    Drop the damaged PDF. It is checked straight away: whether it is really a PDF, whether it was cut off, and how many pages open as it stands.

  2. Check the settings

    Press Repair PDF. The structure is rebuilt first; if that isn’t enough, intact pages are copied into a new file; only as a last resort are pages rebuilt from pictures of them.

  3. Save the result

    Save the repaired copy and read the report: what was wrong, what was done, and how many pages open now.

Why it doesn’t upload

A PDF that won’t open is often one you can’t afford to lose — a contract, a statement, the only copy of something. Repairing it in your own browser means the damaged file is never handed to a server, and the rescue happens on the device where the file already is.

Check it in your browser’s Network tab

Worth knowing

  • Missing data can’t be invented. A download cut off at 60% loses whatever came after the cut; the repair recovers everything before it.
  • A file that is 0 bytes, a web page, or a ZIP with a .pdf name was never a PDF. The check says which, and what to do instead.
  • A PDF that asks for a password is encrypted, not broken. Remove PDF Password handles that when you know the password.
  • Rebuilding rewrites the file, so any digital signature in it will show as invalid afterwards. Keep the original if the signature matters.
  • The last-resort rebuild from page images keeps the look of each page but not its selectable text, links or form fields.

Questions

Can a damaged PDF file be repaired?

Usually, yes. Most “damaged” PDFs are intact except for the cross-reference table at the end of the file — the index a reader uses to find each page — and that can be rebuilt from the rest of the file. What can’t be repaired is data that isn’t there: a file cut off halfway loses the pages after the cut.

How do I repair a PDF file that won’t open?

Drop it here and press Repair PDF. It is checked first — you’ll see whether it is really a PDF, whether it was cut off, and how many pages open — then rebuilt and saved as a new copy. Before you start, it is worth trying another reader and re-downloading the file; see why a PDF won’t open.

What does “the file is damaged and could not be repaired” mean?

Acrobat couldn’t find or follow the file’s cross-reference table, so it couldn’t locate the pages. That is very often a download that didn’t finish rather than deep corruption. The full explanation covers what to try, in order.

Will repairing a PDF lose text or formatting?

Not when the structure can be rebuilt, which is the usual case: text, fonts, links and forms are kept exactly. Only the last-resort method — rebuilding pages from pictures of them — loses selectable text, and the report says plainly when that is what happened.

Is it safe to repair a PDF online?

It is here, because the repair runs in your browser: qpdf and pdf.js, compiled to run in the page, work on the file on your own device, and nothing is uploaded. That matters for the kind of file people need rescued — the one copy of a contract or statement.

Can I repair a PDF on a Mac or an iPhone?

Yes. It works in Safari and Chrome on a Mac, and in Safari on an iPhone or iPad: choose the file from Files, repair it, and save the copy back. Very large files are more comfortable on a computer, which has more memory.

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